Thinking of buying a fire bowl or something similar for outdoor heating? Anyone any experiences/advice?

[Eulalia]

ds1 loves bonfires which is fine in moderation but the one we had in the summer he threatened to burn our stock of winter fuel! OK slight exaggeration but it did get to be a very big fire. I thought something smaller and more containable whilst being safe and nice to look at would do for those (dry!) autumn evenings.

There seems to be such a huge choice, fire bowls, fire pits/grills, chimeneas, baskets and outdoor fire places. I don't know what is best.

The fire bowls look nice I thought but what material, cast iron, stainless steel? Have even seen brass ones. Then I thought maybe something that combines with a BBQ as well.

Basically I want something that doesn't take loads of fuel or burn up too quickly. Is safe obviously and will cope with a bit of wind. Also something that won't fall to pieces too quickly if left out in the rain.

Advice gratefully appreciated.

Trying again.

Have no experience of a firebowl but we have a fire basket. It does have a grill that fits over the top for BBQ but we've never used it. The issue I have with a basket it is, should it be windy the morning after your fire, is the ashes blow everywhere. With a firebowl, do they come with a lid? That would solve the ashes problem that we have.

Chimeneas I find don't tend to warm people up that well, and it's always better to stare aimlessly into dancing flames

everything biscuits said

ours was about £30 from Argos and is a very basic, er, metal one - much more basic than anything they currently have.
not flashy or shiny, but better than the sawn-off oil drum DH suggested

we bought a cast iron chimnea from Homebase. Around £60?

We have used its loads - would def recommend

Yes the firebowls have a mesh lid. Think I'll get one of those as I like to see the flames. there are plenty on eBay.

We've got a firebowl with the mesh lid. DOes contain the ash/sparks well.

Have found it really good over the summer (well what bits of summer we've had). Means we've spent far more nights sitting out later than we could have done without it.

Obviously when it hasn't been raining that is.