Bollard & Pathway Lights

Lighting a drive or path with bollards

A bollard or pathway light is a freestanding post that throws light down and outward onto the ground around it. The job is practical first: marking the edge of a drive, a turn in a path or a step change, so the route reads clearly after dark without flooding the whole garden. Across our range the bodies are metal, aluminium or polycarbonate, in outdoor finishes such as grey, anthracite, black, brown, corten and white, with a few in basalt stone and stainless steel for a heavier, more rugged look.

Most fittings here are modern, minimalist or contemporary in shape, which suits both clean paving and softer planted borders. The light itself is usually warm white at around 3000K for a relaxed feel near the house.

Spacing bollards along a path or driveway

Even spacing matters more than sheer brightness. The aim is overlapping pools of light with no dark gaps between them, so each fitting's reach sets the gap to the next one. As a rough working rule, space bollards so the edge of one pool of light meets the next, then check the run by eye after dark and adjust before you fix anything down.

• Stagger bollards left and right along a wide path rather than lining them up dead straight, which spreads light across the full width.
• Place a light at every decision point: the start of the path, junctions, bends and any step or level change.
• On a driveway, keep fittings back from the wheel line so they edge the route without being clipped by tyres.
• Run a short test in the dark before final fixing, since planting and paving colour change how far the light appears to travel.

Choosing the right height

Height changes the character of the light as much as the spacing does. Our range covers low markers from around 22cm up through the common 30cm, 50cm, 60cm and 80cm options to taller posts of 100cm and above. Shorter bollards wash light tightly around their base and work well lining a narrow path or a bed edge. Taller posts cast a wider pool and sit better along a drive or an open frontage where you want light to reach further across the surface.

As a guide, pick lower fittings where people walk close by and you want a discreet marker, and taller ones where the light has more ground to cover. Mixing two heights along a single route tends to look busy, so it is usually cleaner to settle on one height for a given run.

IP ratings and weather protection

Anything outdoors needs to cope with rain, so check the IP rating before you buy. The second digit covers water: a higher number means more protection. Most of our range is rated IP44, IP54 or IP65, and every fitting is built for outdoor use.

• IP44 handles splashing water from any direction and suits sheltered spots near the house or under an overhang.
• IP54 adds dust protection and a bit more weather resistance, a sensible default for open paths and beds.
• IP65 is fully protected against dust and withstands water jets, the safest choice for exposed drives and anywhere that takes the full weather.

If a fitting will sit out in the open with no cover, lean towards the higher ratings. For a porch edge or a path tucked against a wall, a lower rating is usually fine.

Bulbs, control and fixing

Many fittings in this range are LED integrated, with the light source built in for a sealed, low-maintenance unit. Others take a replaceable lamp such as an E27 or a GU10, which lets you swap the bulb and pick your own colour temperature. Some bollards are dimmable, so you can soften the level once the planting beds in, and a few include a PIR sensor that brings the light up only when someone passes. A small number come with a ground spike as an alternative to a fixed base, which makes repositioning in a border simpler.

However you fix a post in place, it is worth planning the cable route at the same time as the layout, so power reaches each position before anything is set down. For lights set into the path surface itself, or spotlights pushed into a bed, see our recessed ground lights and spike lights ranges.