Shelter the tub. Salvage the winter. Keep the spa useable all year.

If your tub is 228 × 228cm or smaller in footprint, yes. That covers the vast majority of our hard-shell range — including the Toronto SE, the Great Lakes series and most 4–6 person models — as well as most competitor tubs at that size class. If your tub is larger (a big 6–7 person family spa, any swim spa, some of the imported import-brand hex-shells), the Fraser isn't the right enclosure; get in touch and we'll either confirm fit with the exact tub dimensions or recommend an alternative.

Don't just measure the water footprint — include the full shell, the steps and the cover lifter if you're keeping one. And leave a few centimetres on each side for assembly tolerance.

Wooden gazebos in the UK market tend to be treated pine, redwood or cedar. They look handsome on day one and they look a lot less handsome by year five — UK damp gets into joints, the wood moves between wet and dry spells, and without a serious re-staining schedule every two to three years they start silvering and splitting. A full restore costs labour and, if you pay for it, several hundred pounds.

The Fraser's composite frame is UV- and weather-stabilised. It doesn't absorb water, doesn't rot, doesn't need re-coating, and doesn't move seasonally. A cedar gazebo might look better on day one; the Fraser will look the same as day one in year ten. That's the trade-off.

For the vast majority of English, Welsh and Scottish domestic gardens, a freestanding gazebo at 305 × 305 × 295cm falls within Permitted Development rules as an 'outbuilding' — no planning permission required. The usual caveats apply: you need to be more than 2m from a boundary for the 2.95m height, and if your property is listed, in a conservation area, in a National Park or is a flat/maisonette, Permitted Development may not apply. Check with your local planning authority if you're not sure. We don't submit applications on your behalf, but we can supply full dimensioned drawings for an application if needed — just email the support team.

A level, load-bearing 3.5 × 3.5m area. That's typically a concrete pad, close-jointed paving slabs laid on a proper bed, or a purpose-built reinforced spa pad. Direct onto grass or soft ground doesn't work — the structure needs to remain level for the doors and side panels to sit true, and soft ground settles unevenly in the first winter.

The base needs to carry both the gazebo and the filled hot tub inside it, which is a combined static load of several tonnes. If you're pouring a new base, spec it for a filled spa, not a garden ornament — ask a landscaper for 100mm+ concrete on a compacted sub-base, or match what the tub's own installation guide recommends.

Yes — two competent adults, a weekend, and standard hand tools. The composite panels use a clasp-fit assembly designed to go together without specialist kit. The instructions are decent; the slowest part is usually getting the first corner true.

What catches people out is the base prep, not the assembly. If the 3.5 × 3.5m footprint isn't properly level before you start, the panels fight you on the final joins and the doors don't sit right. Spend the time on the base. If in doubt — or if the hot tub's already in position and you don't want to empty it to fit the gazebo around it — take our £1,000 installation service. We'll handle base check, full assembly and the bar stool set-up, typically in a day.

DIY, with two people on a level pre-prepped base: expect a full Saturday for the frame and roof, plus a couple of hours Sunday morning for the side panels, windows and bar. Bank on a weekend, not an afternoon. Professional install is usually one working day on site — we arrive, we finish, we leave.

Plan the install for a dry spell if at all possible. Handling composite panels in sideways rain is unpleasant and the roof joins seat more cleanly dry.

Marginally. The Fraser is a shelter, not a sealed heated room — two sides are open by design, so you're not adding insulation around the tub. A well-insulated hot tub loses heat mainly through the cover, not through the cabinet side walls, and the cover is what it is regardless of whether there's a gazebo above it.

What the gazebo does do is keep wind-driven rain and snow off the cover itself, which keeps the cover dry and its foam interior from getting waterlogged over a bad winter — and a waterlogged cover is the single biggest cause of rising running costs in year three of owning a tub. So: small direct heat retention benefit, meaningful indirect protection benefit. Both matter, but it's the cover protection that makes the numbers work long-term.

The sloped composite roof sheds rain and light snow reliably, and the central skylight is sealed. The gazebo isn't designed to be a watertight room — with two open sides, wind-driven rain at an angle can reach the tub. In practice that's a rare combination (it takes wind direction lining up with the open sides), and you can adjust which two sides are open at install to match your prevailing weather.

Think of the Fraser the way you'd think of a bandstand or a covered pergola: it shelters the space above and behind the tub, not a sealed box around it.

Not with the standard build — the Fraser is specified as two covered and two open sides, and the two open sides are structurally part of the access design. Fully enclosing a gazebo around a hot tub is not something we recommend anyway: hot tubs vent warm humid air continuously, and in a sealed structure that condenses on every internal surface, soaks the cover and drives mould growth in the ceiling. Partial enclosure is the correct answer for almost every UK buyer; if you need a sealed structure, you want a hot tub room, not a gazebo.

Standard 12-month manufacturer warranty on the composite panels, roof structure and hardware against manufacturing defects. Consumables (the bar stool cushions, any trim) aren't covered beyond the DOA period. UK warranty support is handled from our Redhill, Surrey office — same team that looks after the hot tub range.

Free kerbside delivery to mainland UK. It arrives on a pallet via a dedicated carrier, typically within 7–14 working days of order depending on stock — exact timing is shown on the product page. You'll need enough access to get a pallet off the truck and onto your property; a standard drive or side passage is fine. The driver won't take it through to the garden for you, but they will get it off the truck at the kerb.

If you're booking the professional install option, we coordinate the install visit to follow the delivery — usually within a week of the pallet landing, so the gazebo isn't sitting outside wrapped up for long.

Ex-demo units are Fraser gazebos we've had assembled for trade shows or customer viewings — fully functional, visually near-perfect, but not technically new. Saving vs full retail is meaningful (around £750 off). If you want pristine factory-fresh packaging, take the full-price option; if you're happy to take a gazebo that's been stood up and taken down once in a controlled environment, the ex-demo is materially the same product at a lower price. We QA each one before despatch and flag any cosmetic marks in the listing.