Think I ran out of space there....

The last bit read:

and the LED lamps: 

http://brightlightz.co.uk/products/gu10-5w-5050-smd-24-led-super-bright-bulb-in-day-white-50w-60w-halogen

Top of the range manufacturers include Hunza and Collingwood if the budgets stretches that far but a lot of clients' don't these days.

I hope that goes some way towards helping. Happy to give more detailed advice - just let me know. If you can't find anyone that delivers to France, I'm more than happy to get anything and send it on.

Cheers for now,

Andrew

Hi Phil, hope you're well.

A lot of the answer is obviously going to depend on the sort of effect that you are looking for in each of the arches, and will also be determined, to a certain extent by the length of the wall, and the size of cable that you have installed.

I'm guessing that we are talking about recessed downlights of some sort. A single source of light from directly above will give you a slightly eerie Gothic effect, which can work well with a stone wall.

Halogen lamps are still a very popular choice because they give a clear warm light that picks out colours well. They are good from my point of view because they give choices of intensity , beam spread, and power input (mains or 12v). However, the higher wattage lamps are not particularly eco friendly or cheap to run (but at least, in your case, there are only five).

LED lamps give out a slightly less sympathetic light but are virtually maintenance free and extremely cheap to run, with a very low carbon footprint. The choices of lamps and fittings are growing almost by the day.  

If your arches are very large, then another option would be metal halide lamps. These are often used in retailing because they are much brighter, per watt, than halogens. 

Cost wise, you can basically spend very little up to a small fortune. The cheapest solution, and one that I would definitely consider if the arches are relatively small, would be to use LED marker lights. These range in size from the typical deck lights to the driveway edging lights. They all have a medium width beam and are pretty indestructible with excellent weather resistance. All but the largest ones will tolerate quite a long run of cable from the transformer. 

For halogen lamps, you probably wouldn't want to spend a lot, as most of the fitting would be buried in the top of the arch, so a simple cast aluminium spike light fitting would do the job. They can be bought with mains or 12v lamp fittings inside. If the appearance of the fitting is important, then the more expensive manufacturers make copper or stainless steel downlights. You will also have to go to the top end manufacturers if you want to use metal halide lamps.

So, there's lots of choice! Now you're going to ask what I would use! Well, without seeing the wall and the arches, I'm going to have a stab. If the light fittings are intended to be unseen, then I would go for a mix of the above, which would be 230v black aluminium spike light fittings (spikes removed, obviously!) with wide beam LED lamps inside, which will also light the inside edges of your arches. This would give you a very low cost solution that is just as robust as using expensive fittings.

Although many designers go for 12v systems, we prefer to use mains electricity all the way, which means that all the cabling needs to be properly protected and designed for outdoor use. The 12v route would entail heftier cables from a remote transformer, or finding somewhere to conceal outdoor transformers in your wall (probably not an option). I'm sure you're far better genned up on French electrical regulations than I am but it might be worth checking up on them before you start.  

We source our lights and lamps on a pretty ad hoc basis, as every garden and client seems to have different requirements. Sorry - we don't actually supply lights, but I can point you in the direction of online suppliers who, I'm sure, would send to France.

The sort of fittings that I mention above can be seen here: http://www.lightingstyles.co.uk/Exterior-garden-lighting/exterior-spike-lights-spikelight/Palo_ground_spike.htm

and the LED lamps: http://brightlightz.co.uk/products/gu10-5w-5050-

Anytime Phil!

Hi Phil,

How're you?

I've been a member for a while but Im not the most active user of the forum and havent spoke much,

but i find the site really useful and a great rescource, and hope to start using the forum more.

I was just wondering if you were still promoting the "green tick" and if so do members still have permission to use the logo

kind regards

Chris

Hi Phil, is there a typo in the letter you just sent round? where it says 'As an example, where it might take 600 minutes ( that's over one working day) for one person to walk 100 yards to water 100 trees 96 minutes for each tree round trip)' should that be 6 minutes, not 96?

all the best, Rose

Hi Phil, re. LJN stickers: sorry to say it's not working out as even vaguely viable. I had thought to promote other services to make up for the time spent on stickers, but I'm constantly rather swamped with regular work here anyway. 

I've decided we can no longer offer the stickers, unless somebody would care to do the leg-work of mailing them in 2s and 3s as required.

cheers,

Dick

Thanks for letting me know, Phil! Apologies; I can't seem to send you IM's at the moment. The tweet was directed at anyone, really, just to open up discussion!

Hello Phil,

Received an IM from you earlier but possibly got disconnected! Please let me know if there's anything you wish to talk about. Thank you!

That's Ok Phil, hope they help the members out. There are a few more that come through so when they do I pop them on to the list.

Hi Phil

The journey from Northampton was well worth the effort.  I am sure the concept will grow both in terms of exhibitors and attendance.

It was enjoyable meeting yourself and other members of the network. 

Thanks Phil and team,

I found the show very useful, made some very good contacts, already put some of those chats into action, signing up to forecourt fuels for one..

I terms of location and timing I thought it was perfect as we are fairly local, that said I would be happy to travel further to see the next show.

I am sure the more exhibitors that sign up and come on board would make just as good an impression. I think to have 3 or 4 of the same types of company would be good as it show diversity and choice for starters because we can all become reliant on 1 or 2 regular suppliers and become blinkered to who else is out there in this competitive market..

Marketing the show is very important and great to see the likes of Marshall's on board as they are instantly recognisable in the industry.. in the future the more advertsing about the show would be great, not sure if possible but theres Pitchcare/APL, would they be interested in pushing the show ? Just food for thought, in the mean time I will keep thinking of ways to expand the next show...keep up the good work..

Thanks Phil - it was a really positive day for us. Katy and I met several very interesting new people and reinforced connections with existing associates. Well done on a fab show! I'll be in touch with info on the Show Gardens Seminar - what's the best way to broadcast it to LJ members?

Best wishes

Lucinda

Hi Phil – if for any reason you think my Makita shredder film is not too clever, please do take it off or let me know and I'll promptly remove... I hope Tuesday is a resounding success – Pete.

Hi Phil,

Thanks for your welcome message... I wonder, is it possible to get an invite to the Landscaping, Garden and Design Leads group please...?

I'm just starting out with my garden design and build business and any help to get work is most welcome as i'm sure you can imagine..!

Thanks again

Regards

Ed Brown

Urban Green Yorkshire

Haven't done much social networking yet, apart from FLICKR, so here goes

Thanks Phil look forward to using the site.

Hi Phil

Thanks for your phone call today it was really enlightening 1) I have talked at length to my wife and we will book a space at The Creating Landscapes Show 2) the Peruvian Scillas are available at £2 each but my main supplier says they are really limited this year

Kind regards

nick@bulbs4u