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.

Living willow bench covering

A simple bench at the Centre for Alternative Technology

Bench at Bodiam Castle

Nothing gives me more pleasure than receiving an email with a photograph attached and the note, 'Saw this bench and thought of you'. This beauty today comes courtesy of the writer, Vanessa Gebbie.

French benches

Beautiful simple stone benches from a farmhouse in Brittany, sent by a friend. You can almost feel the welcome coolness of the stone on a hot day.

New York Benches

Glad to see the Junior Bench Correspondent has got her priorities right, coming back from a holiday to New York with some stunning images of benches. Unfortunately she was photographed sitting on some of them which rather spoilt the lines, but she won't make that mistake again.

Skystation

Situated on London's south bank, as part of a project to place them all round London. Loving the inscription, 'In Loving Memory Of Those Yet To Be Born'.

(thanks to Michelle for this one)