The ornamental sundial from B&Q photographed at 1450 GMT on a sunny October afternoon. You can see from the shadow that the sundial is showing approximately the correct time of day. Quite impressive. Given the longitude, however, it should have been reading around 1440 local Sun Time, but it's near enough for an ornamental dial, and I may not have set it up quite correctly anyway.

This photograph shows the gnomon (the pointer) which casts a shadow across the face of the dial to indicate the time. The angle of the edge of the gnomon, highlighted in  red, must be the same angle as the local latitude. In this case the latitude is approximately 53º North so the angle of the gnomon here is also 53º.  I had to adjust the angle of the gnomon on this sundial by putting a couple of brass washers under the front edge to lift it to the correct angle.

This is an experimaental paper dial, printed off the internet from the the NASA website. This dial is quite different from the usual dial with a horizontal face.  This one has a face which is constructed to be at the same angle as the local latitude. This on has a face which is actually at 52º. The style (gnomon) is made to be perpendicular to the face. The digits must be evenly spaced arount the semicircle to give accurate time keeping.  Even though this one is only made of paper, it is very accurate.  Because the sun effectively falls on the dial from behind it seems that there is a drawback to this design. In the winter months when the sun is very low in the sky, it does not get high enough to illuminate the face of the dial and therefore produce a shodow from the gnomon. As this photograph was taken in October, I have had to draw in an imaginary shadow!  In June, however, this dial kept excellent time.

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A wider view of this attractive sundial, showing the long shadow being cast by the sun even at 2:30 PM.

This second paper dial is more conventional, with a flat horizontal face. The gnomon of this sundial is designed for latitudes of 53º North, as you can just about see in the above photograph.  The digits of this dial have been more scientifically laid out, using some trigonometery to provide the correct angles between the numbers and therefore provide more accurate timekeeping.