We are both in need of a garden bench. Rich has never had one on his allotment and after shuffling his aged limbs around the plot following a rare night out he realised he can no longer hoe the land without a seated break.
My garden does have a bench, but it was salvaged from a house move and installed as a temporary fixture. So it isn’t built for outdoor use, and the next hefty arse that plants itself in the middle of it is likely to snap the slats and produce some painful splinters (see main image).
But before either of us looks too closely at specific bench styles we have one big decision to make: wood or metal.
To help us come up with an answer we diligently came up with the following list of pros and cons…
Wooden benches
Pros
• Usually more comfortable
• And warmer
• There is a far greater range of wooden bench styles to choose from
• Some of them are cheap
• More natural looking and environmentally friendly
• Easier to shove into place
Cons
• Need regular maintenance
• Don’t dry easily after rain, causing soggy bottoms
• Can be trickier to remove pigeon poo
• Don’t last as long
• Discolour if not treated properly
Metal benches
Pros
• Sturdy and long lasting
• Need less frequent maintenance
• Can make your garden look a bit posh
• Can be cleaned with a quick hose down
• Don’t soak up water
Cons
• Heavy
• Can get rusty
• More expensive
• Fewer styles to choose from
• The cause of cold bums
• Generally fewer level pieces on which to rest a mug of hot soup
Scanning this list over we both gravitated towards wooden benches. But before confirming that choice we consulted our twitter pals to see what they went with…
A resounding victory for the wooden bench, with the most common reason being the warm-bum-factor. Now we can spend some time pondering what style and type of wood we want. If only we had somewhere outisde to sit while researching…
