LISA Duncan, 31, has been an unrepentant patio-heater enthusiast since she and her husband moved from a flat in Glasgow's Merchant City to a house with a garden in Scotstoun 18 months ago.

LISA Duncan, 31, has been an unrepentant patio-heater enthusiast since she and her husband moved from a flat in Glasgow's Merchant City to a house with a garden in Scotstoun 18 months ago.

They have a table-top version which uses a gas cylinder shared with their barbecue, another garden feature which, like the patio, provides almost year-round use.

"Rain is the only thing that has put us off this year," she said.

"We like to have it on at night when it gets a bit chilly sitting out, especially when we have friends round. We even use it during the winter, in February.

"I don't think we are contributing significantly to global warming. It is quite economical, especially if you compare it to all these people sitting inside with their central heating on watching their huge plasma TVs.

"We are enjoying the art of conversation.

"We also have a multi-fuel burning stove and we offset our carbon footprint by not using the central heating.

"We have also finished insulating the loft and we manually recycle by taking all our bottles and newspapers to the Scotstoun recycling centre.

"We bought the gas cylinder last year and, despite being used both for the heater and barbecue, we had to replace it only recently - although because of the rain this year we haven't used them as much as we would like to."