Our wooden garden table has been looking a bit tired of late, it's done the silvery thing it's supposed to, but to be honest I don't think it's its best look.

With the nice weather we had last week - let's hope it makes a reappearance soon - we were using the table a lot more, so I was keen for it to look a bit more presentable.

I'd also taken to having my breakfast out in the garden, so I wasn't too impressed to discover some birds had left a special deposit for me to find... I squirted some kitchen spray to make things more hygienic, only to discover I now had a clean patch on the table. Oops!

However, I did quite like the look of the cleaner, more hygienic bit:

There was only one thing for it.

Yes the whole thing (and the chairs) needed a good scrubbing.

As the weather was nice I made it my job for the afternoon, but first I needed a brush.

I found this one in the local hardware shop for £1.95 - bargain!

So my afternoon of scrubbing got underway, then it was into the sun for the table and two of the chairs to dry and for me to soak up a few rays too!

I had some "fun" with the brush...

Fairly early on in my scrubbing session the bristle section flew off and detached itself from the handle; thankfully it was easy to reattach and after that it decided to stay put.

The pointy end came in useful, as did the handle - which was why I'd chosen it over a more conventional brush.

However I did end up with a blister on the knuckle of my right ring finger, which wasn't so good.

But on the plus side, look at how much better it looks!

Then it was time to oil them - and more time to dry (for them) and sun (for me)

I'm not sure we've cleaned it this much before (that's the Royal We there...) and I'm really pleased with the results:

It's something I'd definitely do again (despite the blister), which is lucky really as I've still two more chairs to go!

So if you've been thinking about cleaning your wooden garden furniture - give it a go - it gives it a whole new lease of life.

Don't forget to try a test patch - just like I did. Ahem!

And let me know how you get on.