AH, summer.

Bees buzzing round the lavender, children playing on the finely manicured lawn, and gin and tonics as the sun goes down and the neighbours pop round for a barbecue.

English gardens are known around the world for their loveliness – in fact tending them and cooking in them are among our favourite pastimes.

So how is it that gardening and barbecuing can leave so many of us broken and bruised, or even being rushed to A&E?

According to Safety Horizon South West and the Department of Trade and Industry’s Home Accident report (2002), men have more accidents in the garden than women and, apart from children, people aged 30 to 60 are most likely to be injured.

The most common accident in a garden is a fall, but the biggest threat to people actually gardening is a cut followed by being struck by things.

This week the Daily Echo reported on a 47-year-old man from Lyndhurst who accidentally mowed over his own foot with a lawnmower.

Fortunately the accident wasn’t serious enough to warrant being airlifted to hospital, but the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance was called before he was taken to A&E in a land ambulance.

Just yesterday (Friday July 8) a couple in Hampshire were saved from deadly carbon monoxide poisoning having brought a barbecue into their home, prompting Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service to issue a warning to residents about the dangers posed by barbecues.

A crew from Hightown Fire Station was sent to the Upper New Road area of West End at 1.53am after the middle-aged couple brought the fire pit barbecue into the conservatory.

The fire had gone out but the heat was still giving off carbon monoxide which set off the house alarm.

Watch manager Justin Lee said: “They didn’t realise that you weren’t supposed to have the fires indoors, or even ones that were put out.

“They’re still dangerous even if you think they’re out. If they’re still warm they’re still dangerous.”

Community safety group manager Ty Whitlock said: “People think that a barbecue is safe once the flames are out, but in reality it will still be pumping out carbon monoxide.

“With camping season upon us I would urge people to leave their used barbecues outside their tents. If you don’t the results can prove deadly.

“People just don’t realise they aren’t designed to be brought indoors.

“If the alarm had not gone off the result of this barbecue being left in the conservatory could have been tragic.

“This again highlights the importance of having a working carbon monoxide detector and smoke alarm.”

The service says barbecues can emit the poisonous gas for more than 12 hours after they have been put out.

In 2012 a 22-year-old man died in the New Forest having brought one into his camper van, while earlier in the year a six-year-old girl in Gosport died after her parents brought a barbecue into their tent to keep warm while they were camping in the New Forest.

Mr Whitlock added: “To ensure your barbecue is safe this summer, set up your barbecue outdoors on level ground away from fences, tents or anything which could catch fire and never leave unattended and have a bucket of water close by.

“Don’t cook if you’re affected by alcohol and keep children and pets away from the cooking area.

“Make sure the coals are cool before you move the barbecue.

"Once cool, dispose of the ash onto bare garden soil, but never into a dustbin which could melt or catch fire.

If in a designated barbecue area in public or on a camp site please use the barbecue bins provided.”

A spokesman from the Royal South Hants minor injuries unit said: “Over the course of a year, we do see quite a few injuries here that people have picked up gardening.

In particular we see a lot of cuts and grazes from thorn bushes or secateurs as well as sprained ankles from falling on slippery pathways.

“I encourage all gardeners to wear the right footwear and gloves and to speak to your GP surgery to make sure that your tetanus jabs are always up to date.”

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents is no longer funded to produce statistics on the nature of exactly how we injure ourselves, but their latest batch of figures (from 2002) told us that 300,000 people went to A&E in that year alone with gardening-related injuries.

Not surprisingly the lawnmower topped the list of hazardous garden equipment, with 6,500 incidents reported each year, and nearly 5,300 incidents involving flowerpots.