Brush bench

The Scrub Together bench by Jason Taylor (found by Alex at shedworking)

St Katharine Dock at dusk

Today's guest bench is from Nick Peplow. Hard to believe this is London.

Lime and Yew bench...

This almost perfect bench, and also perfectly placed bench, comes courtesy of gardening writer, James Alexander-Sinclair. It's in the Vale of Evesham and the view behind is of the Cotswolds.

Another guest bench

This lovely peaceful bench from the queen of this particularly good blog.

Reflecting bench

Of course, benches are the best place to sit on and reflect, but this one in Maine is actually placed on the edge of a reflecting pool.

Labyrinth bench

Found (and sat on) at the Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich, Cape Cod.

A pocket of meditation

Artists, Shane and Leah Odom from Maryland, have sent me this photograph of the beautiful bench Shane built at their home:



This is what Shane says about it:

"I like to build benches. There is something about providing a simple place to sit. I have built many that were movable and several that were set into the ground on posts.I have left a permanently fixed bench at all the places I have lived, even building a couple clandestinely in wooded places. I like to think of them as still out there, like little pockets of meditation I have left in the world. There is something about a bench. It provides a destination, a place to go to and...sit. This is the literally meaning of zen. Zazen. To Sit. To be in one place.

This spot needed a bench. I built it. It overlooks our home and gardens."

I love this. I'm hoping this blog will hear more from Shane and Leah in the future. He blogs here.

Golf course bench

The crazy golf course in Sandwich, Cape Cod, (written about here) really was perfect. It even had this bench...

Now, a bench golf hole. That would be something to see.

Presidential bench

Prime sightseeing bench at Kennebunkport; people were sitting here with binoculars to watch the Bush family compound (the building you can see in the background).

Stone benches

Following my earlier post on stone benches from France, I've been looking at them more closely. Here are some from America (more to come). I wasn't convinced to begin with, but now I like the simplicity more and more. There's something casually thrown together about them.