Cottage garden seating
Here are my suggestions for cottage garden seating for whatever kind of garden you have.
Seats, seats and more seats. A garden needs them surely?
Does anyone walk into a room and just stand there in the middle? No. We gravitate towards a seat.
Yet I see gardens with borders round a lawn and nowhere to sit. So all you can do is walk around, stand around or sit on the grass and then go inside again.
Here’s a chair at my front door. It’s great for just a quick sit to get outside for a few minutes.
Cottage garden seating
So nice to sit outside the front door for a moment or two anytime
In the middle of the sunken front garden I have a table and chairs where I can sit completely secluded and jump out at people coming down the path.
Colourful cottage garden seating
Cottage garden seating will be bright, light and colourful
Nothing fancy, just a bistro set easily bought online in lots of lovely colours.
Now out the back our garden is one rectangular space, all brick paved with deep borders round the edge. Many years ago I made the focal point a big wooden table, big orange umbrella and brightly coloured chairs which stay outside from March to November.
Colourful garden parasol and chairs
Permanent colour in the garden from the umbrella and chairs
It’s great to have lots of space even though there’s only two of us and the table fits 6/8 chairs if we need them. With small pots at either end, herbs and scented flowers, the table is lovely to look out on.
I put out a cheaper folding chair through the winter so I can have a freezing huddled cup of tea if I want to. It’s vital to have somewhere to sit in the depths of winter for an impromptu cup of tea with my coat on.
Chairs in the garden in winter
Cheap and cheerful chairs can stay outside all year in London because we are sheltered
So please think about placing chairs around your garden. Wooden benches are fine if you are sure that’s where you want to sit and even then you’d need a small table to put your stuff on.
Cottage garden seating, especially small town garden seating probably needs to be light and easy to move. Fabric folding chairs here and there work for me, so I can sit in the shade or sun when I want to. I don’t have room for a lounger since I decided to have so many pots. There isn’t room for everything in a small garden. We each decide our own priorities.
I had a tiny spot on BBC TV last year mentioning furniture which you can read about here.
When in doubt, sit down. That’s my motto.
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