Although it entails a reasonable amount of work, building your barbeque from brick makes it durable as well as being easily adapted to fit any situation. It is best to use a glazed brick or quarry tile for the top as these materials clean more easily than house bricks. During the winter months it is advisable to remove the grill and supporting steel rods. This leaves you with a sunken rectangular space just waiting for a planted container: fill it with bulbs, pansies and trailing ivy to provide some colour and interest during winter and spring.

As a base for your barbeque choose bricks or paving slabs. The 1.5m wall and the barbeque are built as one. The barbeque is made up of a storage cupboard and the grill. Construct the storage cupboard with a single shelf and top it with a working surface. A 900mm x 600mm concrete paving slab can be used as a bed for the final finish of glazed paving bricks. Make the door from tongue and groove boards and remember that all catches and hinges should be made of brass to stop rust. Below grill level the barbeque is a solid structure and the cavity formed by the four surrounding walls should be filled with rubble and hardcore and finished with glazed paving bricks. As the walls rise on either side, you need to remember that at the sixth and following courses you will have to allow for the supports to hold the adjustable cooking grid. A metal foot-scraper makes an effective grid and can easily sit on several levels by using 6mm mild steel strips bedded into the joints of the brickwork. You can of course use charcoal to cook your food but the beauty of a brick barbeque is that you can use logs that can be burnt directly on the brick top - and the wood gives the food a delicious flavour.