Is there a preferred wood stain?

[britishboy7]

I’m looking to stain some treated batten to mount horizontally across some fence panels with a small gap between each batten and stain them in a red cedar colour stain (rather than actual fence paint)

Is there a ‘better’ stain to use? Something that’ll last a few years hopefully as they won’t be too easy to get to or paint once the garden is finished

 

[conny]

I tend to use Ronseal Fencelife. If the gap between is going to small I would suggest a few coats all round before fitting them. Let each coat dry before applying another one. Think it takes about 1 hour between coats so, depending on how many you have to do, it shouldn't take long to give 3 or more coats to each piece.
One thing I would say, make sure you don't have any sharp edges between the edge and the faces. This is a weak point for any finish, be it stain, varnish or paint. Rub the edges with glass paper so you have a slightly rounded edge. This does prevent weak points for moisture ingress. (Also less painful if children or anyone else trips and falls against the fence).