What is a Third Place and How Can Your Garden Become One?

In an age of social media, instant messaging and busy lives, we often forget to make time for connection with others in person. And with prices of everything rising, going out for a meal or event can seem like a bigger expense than before and can be an overwhelming and exhausting experience for some. A lot of the time, we often just resort to staying in, in front of the TV, or scrolling through social media. In a day and age of 24/7 worldwide communication, you might think we would be more socially connected than ever!

One topic that comes up when discussing the lack of face-to-face communication and just “hanging out” is the loss of The Third Place.

What is a Third Place?

The term is believed to be first coined by Ray Oldenburg in his 1989 book, The Great Good Place. He discusses that we have 3 social environments:

• The first place is your home environment.
• The second place is your place of work or education.
• The third place is somewhere for socialising and community building.

Essentially, think of the third place being where you go to relax and unwind, separate from work and home. It’s a centuries old idea of a location where people can come together to meet or fulfil a purpose, in a place accessible to all. There are even online third spaces like social media, forums and video games, but these lack physicality and connection. Some better examples of third places would be locations like your local park, town/city centres, co-working spaces, shopping centres, the pub down the road… or maybe even your BBQ cabin!

Our BBQ huts and garden bars are inspired by centuries old, traditional Scandinavian Grillkota, a third place used by communities as somewhere to keep warm, cook and socialise- so naturally they are a great place for encouraging socialising and community!

But how can you achieve creating a third place in your back garden? Here are some of our ideas on how to help strengthen your sense of community and reconnect with those around you from your cabin.

How Your Log Cabin Can Become Your Third Place

A relaxing haven away from work and home.

As standard, a BBQ cabin or garden bar is separate from your house and your place of work (unless you’re a member of the team at one of our show sites!)

Social Space For Kids and Teenagers

It’s well known that children love to have their own taste of independence, especially when hanging out with their friends, and it’s important to them to have that too. But nowadays, caregivers are more concerned than ever about their child’s safety, or their children might not be at an age where they can go out and about unattended.

Your BBQ hut can become the ultimate hideout for kids and teenagers, as, let’s be honest, it’s a pretty cool space, but also gives carers peace of mind about their child’s and their friends’ whereabouts. Gurinder on Trustpilot says, “My kids sit there to chill out with music, on their own or have friends over, well worth it.”

If you are concerned about kids hanging out in a BBQ cabin where a fire pit is a central feature, we can also adapt our cabins to have a solar roof light and no central grill, creating even more space for whatever they need- the den at the bottom of the garden just got an upgrade!

Open Garden (or Cabin) Days

During the spring and summer months, many gardeners will host an open garden day, where the locals can pop in and enjoy the hard work and care put into their landscaping and horticultural skills.

Spread the word and have your own open garden & cabin day! Your neighbours can come enjoy your garden and see the cabin in action, you could even encourage them to contribute by bringing food and drink, pot luck style!

Or if you would like to keep it to your closer circle, set a date and tell your family and friends that they are welcome to pop over and socialise in the cabin whenever they wish. Even better- our grill huts are perfect for all year round use, so sunshine or snow, you will be able to enjoy socialising with others.

Create A Co-Working Space

Okay, so we did say that work and your third space should be separate, but if you are a social butterfly, creating a cosy co-working space in your garden could be right up your street! (or garden) 

Many people now work from home, some even from their BBQ huts, but this can be isolating for those who enjoy the social interaction that comes with an office environment. While more co-working spaces are popping up across the UK, these are mostly limited to larger cities and can be too much of a commute for those who live further away. 

Why not invite some friends who also work remotely to bring their laptops and work together in your cabin! You can help keep each other accountable for completing tasks and help make the working day a little less lonely!

Hosting Hobby & Social Groups

Have a hobby that you enjoy doing with others? Invite them into your third place (in this case, your cosy cabin) and enjoy socialising whilst doing your favourite activities. This could involve people bringing their own crafty projects, hosting your book club meetings, wine tasting evenings, model making, a knitting and crochet group… The ideas are endless!

If you yourself are a parent or carer, you could offer your cabin as a place where local parents and carers can relax and connect with others outside of school & nursery groups. They do say it takes a village to raise a child, and meeting with others going through similar stages in life can be very mentally beneficial for caregivers.

Community Coffee Cabin

Cafes and coffee shops are the most well-known examples of third places, so imagine bringing that experience to your garden! Our customers mainly use their Arctic Bars for, well, garden bars and pubs. But if that’s not your scene, there’s no reason why you couldn’t make a cosy cafe for those that want to enjoy a more relaxed hangout with friends & family. The bar surface provides the perfect place for all your hot beverage-making equipment (and snacks), the drinks rack can house all your mugs, teas, coffees and syrups, and you can all cosy up around the central grill with your beverage of choice. You could even heat your water or milk over the fire and make large quantities of hot chocolate, pumpkin spice latte and mulled wine to share! This also goes hand-in-hand with the hobby hangout space idea too. Who wouldn’t enjoy a warming drink and some snacks while chilling out doing their favourite activity! It’s giving, the Friends gang hanging out in their local coffee shop. Having your own version of Central Perk in your back garden, could that BE any cooler?

To Conclude:

Creating a third place in your garden is an excellent option for those who value nurturing a community close to home, or for people who might not find it easy to be far from their home environment.

By creating a welcoming and unique space in your back garden, not only are you creating a place to improve the wellbeing of yourself and those around you, but a place that helps you strengthen bonds with your loved ones and your local community. After all, it's what the heart of the original Scandinavian grillkota are all about.

If you are interested in learning more about our unique Scandinavian-inspired BBQ cabins and garden bars, request our free digital brochure or alternatively, contact our sales team.