Tag: garden seating

Are you sitting comfortably – no 13 in a very occasional series.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 23, 2017

More seats to enjoy looking at and to imagine sitting in – enjoy!

This first set is from Bryn y Llidiart, garden set high in the Welsh hills in a beautiful undulating garden with a variety of rich views so every seat enjoys its own special place to look at.

Closer to home is a large country cottage just inside the Welsh border, Hurdley Hall, with a garden full of surprises and one which invites wildlife within its boundaries. Seats allow the visitor to soak up the special atmosphere this garden possesses. Some of the seats invite you to sit and enjoy tea and cakes, others to cool down in the shade and some to enjoy delicious views.

A 4-acre garden set in the beautiful Welsh countryside not far from home and north of us is Aberclwyd Manor is so full of atmosphere. It made us feel so calm and rested, so the many seats were very welcome, although many were too old and rickety to sit on.

Tags garden design, garden features, garden furniture, garden seating, garden seats

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Are you sitting comfortably? Part 12 of a very occasional series.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 7, 2017
1 Comment on Are you sitting comfortably? Part 12 of a very occasional series.

So back again with another selection of garden seats discovered on our visits and wanderings around gardens of all sizes. Every garden however small needs one seat, but every garden deserves as many seats as the design allows. Gardens are to be enjoyed, by the gardeners themselves first and foremost but also by guests and visitors.

At the end of April we visited two spring gardens, The Weir near Hereford, a National Trust property, and a garden open for the Hardy Plant Society 60th Birthday celebrations.

The Weir Garden is an unusual design as it runs in a valley alongside a river, with its paths following the valley side. There are so many points of interest and viewpoints but only a few seats to invite the visitor to sit and take it all in.

Conversely our second garden in Stafford was a medium-sized town garden but had seats to help appreciate the beauty of the plants and design features.

More seats to come in “Are you sitting comfortably – Part 13”. We will be on the look out as we visit gardens for more fine examples of places to relax, sit down and enjoy the views.

Tags garden design, garden furniture, garden seating, garden seats

countryside fruit and veg garden design garden furniture garden photography garden ponds garden pools garden seating hardy perennials Herefordshire Land Art landscapes outdoor sculpture sculpture water in the garden Yellow Book Gardens

Another Yellow Book Garden – Hill House Farm

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 19, 2017
2 Comments on Another Yellow Book Garden – Hill House Farm

We love to visit our fellow Yellow Book gardens and then sharing them with you. In this post we will share our visit to Hill House Farm, another Herefordshire garden gem. We visited back in July. We liked the description presented in the NGS book, which enticed us to wander slowly down a long gentle slope through shrub and tree plantings in grass with closer cut paths marking the way down to a wildlife pool 200 feet below. Knowing that the garden had been developing for 40 years already gave added interest, as these gardeners were obviously thinking about and doing things in their garden. All good gardeners will never stop learning!

We love a garden with a warm welcome, inviting paths and steps especially when one flight of steps surrounded by aromatic herbs leads us to a good cup of tea and homemade cakes! Beautifully designed and thoughtfully placed seats help too!

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As soon as we arrived we knew we would enjoy the plants as they seemed to be placed in the best possible places to catch the light to absorb it and increase the intensity of their colours, whether bright or pastel.

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This garden definitely did not disappoint and delivered extras we were not expecting but always enjoy, outdoor sculptural pieces. I have shown a few pieces from different directions and distances to show how well they sit in their garden environment.

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Stone walls, some tall, tough and imposing others tiny, simply visually supporting and complimenting the plants, created a partnership with wide green swathes of grass pathways led our eyes down the garden invitingly – we just had to follow.

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A stream appeared alongside the path we followed downhill and it accompanied us right down to the pool as the planting changed to reflect the damper air and ground. Rambling wild roses and native shrubs added plenty of colour and texture to the hedges.

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The pool edges and margins were still being developed but there were already interesting plant groupings going on.

This amazing ever-moving glass and metal sculpture hung over the water surface reflecting every moment that a breeze moved the air. I have put 3 pics in so that you can select the one you like best.

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Jude the Undergardener always likes a swing in the garden so this poolside play piece delighted her, hanging as it did below a huge ancient oak.

Wandering back up the slope slowly afforded us views of the garden slope and the farm bulding in the distance high up.

And to top it all off this unusual informal garden had a lovely productive garden and the finest views. a great day out indeed!

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Tags garden pond, garden sculpture, garden seating, garden seats, garden walls, Herefordshire, Herefordshire gardens, NGS, NGS gardens, outdoor sculpture, Yellow Book, Yellow Book Gardens

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Are you sitting comfortably? Part 11 of a very occasional series.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 29, 2017
2 Comments on Are you sitting comfortably? Part 11 of a very occasional series.

Here we are back with a new selection of interesting and unusual garden seats, our 11th collection.

To start with I will share with you a selection of garden seats we discovered in the wonderful huge gardens at Bodnant, a National Trust Property in North Wales and then move on to another of their properties but this time much nearer home in the West Midlands, Hanbury Hall. All these seats were discovered within a week in November. We hope you enjoy the selection we have chosen for you.

Bodnant Garden

These three simple slate benches are beautifully placed matching their background of strata slate layers and the grey stone paving. They look very different whether they are wet or dry. They are pale greys when dry but much darker and glossier when wet. Their chunky design fits their place so well.

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Inside the garden we wandered through the new Winter Garden and down towards the dingle, a wooded steep valley with a stream running through it. All the seats were quite ordinary designs manufactured from wood, including one that is reminiscent of an Edwin Lutzen’s design, but they were made special by their placements either raised up, surrounded by harmonious plantings and all giving beautiful views across the garden. These view points allowed us to look at close up garden plantings, larger borders or even long views along the valley or over tree tops.

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These last two pics show seating deeper in wooded areas and illustrate how well seats sit in their environment when manufactured in the natural material of the place itself. Special secretive seating where birdsong shares the space with you.

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Hanbury Hall

Again the seats at Hanbury were often very simple and ordinaary in design but they are situated in very special places, special buildings, within special planting.

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So we have shared with you our selection of garden seats that we enjoyed in November. We hope you enjoyed sharing them with us. We enjoyed trying most of them out!

Tags Bodnant, Bodnant Garden, garden seating, garden seats, Hanbury Hall, Natiional Trust Gardens, National Trust, North Wales, Welsh gardens

garden buildings garden designers garden furniture garden seating gardens gardens open to the public Yellow Book Gardens

Are you sitting comfortably? – part ten of a very occasional series

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 22, 2016
3 Comments on Are you sitting comfortably? – part ten of a very occasional series

Here we are – with the tenth post in my very occasional series looking at my collection of photographs of garden seats we discover as we explore the gardens we enjoy visiting so much. We have many seats in our own garden to allow us to sit and enjoy it. Equally we look for seats in every garden we visit to help us sit and fully appreciate what we see.

Here is a selection from a Shropshire Yellow Book garden, Windy Ridge. They show how important it is to place seats in suitable places so that they are in harmony with the plants themselves.

Windy Ridge is a small family garden visited by hundreds of gardeners every year. We will now look at how a much larger garden uses different seats in different ways to suit its own particular circumstances. Hestercombe is a large garden designed partly by Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll which is open to the public attracting thousands of visitors each year. The famous Lutyens benches obviously feature strongly as expected. This seat design must be the most famous and recognised of all garden furniture. As well as these benches there is a wide range of unusual ones to be explored, including several in buildings of many styles plus a few in a huge tent shaped like a shuttlecock.

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Where will our next selection of unusual, wonderful and strange garden seats come from? We are already searching them out!

Tags garden benches, garden features, garden furniture, garden seating, garden seats

garden buildings garden design garden furniture garden photography garden seating gardening gardens open to the public

Are you sitting comfortably? Part 9 of a very occasional series.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 5, 2016
3 Comments on Are you sitting comfortably? Part 9 of a very occasional series.

So here we are back in Devon to share more garden seats with you. In this collection of seats found and tested on our travels we will share with you those we discovered at the RHS garden at Rosemoor.

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When at Rosemoor this February we were delighted that our day coincided with an exhibition of outdoor sculpture. At times it was hard to tell if a garden seat was a piece of sculpture or if a piece of sculpture was a seat.

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This seat with its carved ends all made from wood from the same tree was a great place for its two owls to settle. It lived beneath an iron framed arch which would be clothed in climbing plants a few months hence. Close up the carved creatures were so full of character.

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We were both amused and amazed when we spotted this comfy looking armchair from a across a wide garden border. Closer to we realised it had been created from handmade bricks, joined together by silicone.

The wooden seat in the photo alongside the armchair was home to a Buddah carved from a single piece of wood joined to a bench of the same species of tree. It gave out a deep feeling of piece.

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Sometimes a seat can be a perch for a photographer. In this case our friend Pip was getting close to a spout of water pouring from the stone wall. Look closely at the picture alongside and you will see that a scarecrow is sitting comfortably with his picnic by his side and his crop of pumpkins piled close by.

Often garden seats have protection around them to protect the resting gardeners or visitors from the wind and rain. In the photos below wooden posts provide the protection.

Sometimes the simplest designs work best. These two seats are beautifully designed and crafted and are so simple in their design and construction.

Other seats sit beautifully within their surrounds looking comfortable and full of belonging.

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Seats can be works of art in themselves and then they really do become pieces of sculpture.

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This is a very ordinary garden bench which is very common in our gardens, but the placement of an old green lawn roller gives it character and invites visitors to sit down and enjoy the beauty of this garden artifact.

The best of seats on wet days are those under cover, in this case the seat is enveloped beneath a thatched cottage-style arbour overlooking the herb garden. Here you can appreciate the sights and scents in front of you.

Seats can be made special because they have special purposes, to tell stories from or to enjoy a good swing on.

Where Part 10 of this very occasional series will send us we must wait and see!

Tags Devon, garden sculpture, garden seating, garden seats, garden structures, Gardens of Devon, RHS, RHS gardens, RHS Rosemoor, Rosemoor

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Are you sitting comfortably? Part 10 in a very occasional series.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 25, 2016
2 Comments on Are you sitting comfortably? Part 10 in a very occasional series.

Here we are back with another selection of garden seats that we have discovered on our visits to two gardens last weekend, one small village garden and a larger garden attached to a nursery. Whatever size your garden is it deserves seats and so do the gardeners. A good gardener chooses seats that fit in where the gardener chooses to place them. Sometimes they simply look good as a point of interest but the best ones provide great places to sit and admire the patch.

This first batch of pics were taken in a Shropshire NGS garden called Ancoirean a small village garden with a big heart.

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A short twenty minute drive away is Ashwood Nurseries where the owner John Massey has developed his own private garden alongside. We were priveleged to be shown around by John and he shared his ideas behind hid creation and explained what it all meant to him. A great couple of hours – inspirational!

The next post in this very occasional series could take us anywhere! Only time will tell. It will definitely be to a selection of beautiful seats in beautiful gardens!

Tags garden features, garden furniture, garden seating, garden seats

garden design garden furniture garden photography garden seating gardening gardens gardens open to the public outdoor sculpture RHS sculpture

Sculpture at RHS Rosemoor Garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 21, 2016
3 Comments on Sculpture at RHS Rosemoor Garden

We love seeing sculpture outdoors whether in wild landscapes such as the “Sheep Enclosures” by Andy Goldsworthy, on the shore such as Anthony Gormley’s “Another Place” or in gardens. When we visited the RHS gardens at Rosemoor in Devon we spent two days exploring the gardens as there was the added interest of an exhibition of sculpture. This first of three posts from Rosemoor will concern those sculptural pieces.

I hope you enjoy my photos of a selection of those I particularly liked.

Birds of all sorts always make good subjects for sculptures both meant for indoors or out but I think they look best in the garden setting.

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Naturally plants work well as subjects for garden works of art too, in fact maybe the most natural subject of all.

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The beauty of simple pot shapes appear enhanced by the beauty of the garden.

Sometimes the simplest of forms in sculptural form can bring the structure of plants and parts of plants to mind. Mother Nature herself often creates her own simple sculptural forms.

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An element of fun in any garden is sculptural seating. Those that work as somewhere to rest your weary legs are even more welcome in a garden of several acres.

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This most appealing of benches attracted everyone who spotted it – it demanded a closer look. When we looked at it close up we found that its two ends were both owls, one seated and one coming in to land.

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The human form has throughout history provided inspiration to sculpture.

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This beautiful trio of figures created from metal, entitled “The Three Graces”, stood within a circle of box hedging surrounding box spheres.

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To complete my selection of sculptural pieces here are three pieces displaying simplicity and beauty. This wonderful collection made our wanderings around the gardens at Rosemoor even more worthwhile.

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Tags Devon, garden furniture, garden sculpture, garden seating, Gardens of Devon, natural sculpture, outdoor sculpture, RHS, RHS gardens, RHS Rosemoor, sculpture, The Royal Horticultural Society

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Are you sitting comfortably? Part 8 of an occasional series.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 8, 2016
3 Comments on Are you sitting comfortably? Part 8 of an occasional series.

Here we are back with yet another post in this very occasional series all about garden seating. For parts 8 and 9 we will share with you a collection of seats we found while spending a few days in Devon.

The first set of seats are to be found in the woodland garden of the Stone Farm Cottage Garden and Nursery. This garden boasts the National Collections of Betulas (Birches) and Alnus (Alders). We will look at these trees in a future post.

In the next post in my garden seats series we will share with you the seats we discovered at the RHS Rosemoor Garden.

Tags Devon, garden furniture, garden seating, garden seats

autumn autumn colours community gardening garden buildings garden design garden furniture garden photography garden ponds garden pools garden seating gardening gardens gardens open to the public light light quality memorials ornamental trees and shrubs trees

Furzey Gardens – a wonderful gardening community – Part One

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 11, 2015
1 Comment on Furzey Gardens – a wonderful gardening community – Part One

Jude, The Undergardener, and I always love visiting community gardens to see what is going on. As we are Chairman and Secretary of a community garden, Bowbrook Allotment Community, we always appreciate everything our fellow community gardeners are achieving.

When in Hampshire we discovered that we were close to Furzey Gardens, run as a charitable trust and a very special community garden indeed, described as “A haven of peace and tranquility in the heart of the New Forest.”

We discovered this 10 acre garden created within woodland around a 16th Century forest cottage. It is a partnership between Furzey Gardens and the Minstead Training Trust. To find out more check out their respective websites, http://www.furzey-gardens.org and http://www.minsteadtt.org .

We arrived at their car park where our progress into the car park was hindered by wandering pigs belonging to local commoners taking advantage of their “rights of pannage”. The signage looked promising. We soon came across a photograph of some of the garden’s volunteers and a shed where produce was sold.

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And once inside we discovered a lovely cafe and gallery run by some of the trust’s volunteers. This was to set the scene for the whole visit.

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The views from the table at which we enjoyed our coffee and cakes were certainly very encouraging. We set off with high expectations!

We noticed within the outside seating area this huge table carved by a local wood sculptor from the trunk of a tree. It was hard to see how this was possible. But possible it was! In the picnic area we found another!

We found more beautiful hand made furniture throughout the gardens.

We soon discovered that this was a garden sporting some beautiful specimen trees and shrubs which in early autumn were performing a colourful show. The volunteers maintained the gardens and individual specimens to a very high standard. Above all a sense of peace pervaded every space and the volunteers we saw working looked full of contentment and displayed a great pride in their work.

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We loved this sign which faced us as we followed our pathway through the garden.

“We love children but we also love plants!

Many of the plants at Furzey are old, rare and fragile.

So please don’t climb our trees or trample on the flowers.

Feel free to hop and skip along the paths

And follow the secret places map.”

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We moved on and the low autumn sunshine lit up the foliage all around like a massive stained glass window.

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We enjoyed having so much choice when it came to sitting resting and taking in the beauty of Furzey. Many benches were memorials of volunteers, clients and visitors who simply enjoyed the special nature of this place.

After a break for tea and yet more cake we set off through the shrubs and trees to find the lake, a lake whose surface was cluttered with water lily leaves and its moist margins decorated by big-leaved plants and umbel seed heads.

Throughout the walkways there were secret places for children to discover, “Fairy Houses” hidden low down and camouflaged.

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We shall find more of these little magic places in part two of our visit to Furzey, but I shall finish this first part by sharing with you one of the many thatched rustic garden buildings scattered throughout the gardens. The use of coloured glass leaves added magical light effects.

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