Home Shopping: Garden lights and solar gadgets at The Solar Light Centre

This site sells almost every sort of light you could want for outdoor entertaining.

Magic Globe. Courtesy of Ace

We get plenty of access to it, even in winter, so it makes sense to make the most of solar power in the garden, not least because it removes the need for fiddly wiring jobs or unravelling a mammoth extension cable.

Yet solar lights aren't as widely available as you might expect. A recent search in Abu Dhabi turned up a few products at Ace, but within a week stock was low and there was no guarantee it would be replenished. A tried and tested Home Shopping alternative is the UK-based website The Solar Light Centre. It sells almost every sort of garden light you could want for outdoor entertaining (and everyday use) at reasonable prices: fairy lights start at £11.95 (Dh70) for 50 and a set of four path lights from £15.31 (Dh88). Shipping starts at Dh44 for a 2kg parcel.

We were drawn moth-like to the exceptionally handy solar tea lights (who wants to spend half the evening replacing spent candles?), the Magic Globe lamp (which also floats on water) and the party-perfect Chinese lanterns.

The website also sells a range of solar gadgets, including radios, phone chargers, kettles and lanterns - handy for winter camping trips. One piece of advice: sand and dust settles easily on the solar panels so remember to keep them clean to avoid a sudden blackout.

For more information visit www.thesolarcentre.co.uk