Garden games: the ones worth buying

Bouled over!

The throwing of boules began with the ancient Greeks. The French can't get enough of the game - some 17 million of them play it during the summer - they call it Petanque and describe the ‘jack' (the target) as ‘cochonnet' (French for piglet!). The idea is to get your ball as close to the jack as possible. You play it with a set of shiny silver balls courtesy of English Heritage www.english-heritageshop.org.uk The 8 polished alloy Boules comes with a carry bag, jack, measure and instructions, £14.75.

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