I am always surprised to find myself in small gardens with no chairs or seats apart from the obligatory dining ones by the house. You walk up them… and you walk back. And that’s it. Absolutely nowhere for quiet contemplation.
Admittedly, my garden has an overabundance of seats, many of them elderly rustic chestnut things, relics from my former spacious garden.
Some of them are tucked away under trees where little else will grow, areas that would otherwise be somewhat unsightly. A bench or chair so placed kills two birds with one stone – providing a something pleasing to look at from elsewhere in the garden, and somewhere on which to perch while enjoying looking the good bits of it.
The avian references are apt, as it happens. I have just been scrubbing a year’s worth of guano off my chairs and benches in preparation for my open afternoon tomorrow and subsequent other visitors. It simply wouldn’t do for the assorted bottoms of Wadhurst and its environs to go home with bird-poo embellishments.
So, now the garden visiting season is in full swing, and by way of encouragement to others who perhaps have gardens where seating is a bit thin on the ground – or indeed, tricky areas under trees that need a bit of dressing up – I will include here a selection of pictures that should go under the heading of ‘Seats that are rarely sat on most for of the year’ since I have to admit that the moment I sit on them myself, I immediately see something that needs propping up or deadheading.
So off I go again.
Helen Yemm 
I can imagine myself perched on each one of those seats and just taking in the surrounding beauty of your garden. Not sure I’d want to plong myself down next to the suckling pig, though! Lol!
Gardens like yours definitely need lots of seats tucked away in the corners and shady spots, so any visitor can sit and relax and enjoy the sights.