Anyone for tea?…

Last week Laura commented that our garden looked a lovely place to sit, so I thought as a slight change to my usual update on the happenings in the garden I would give you a little tour of our seats!!

I like being able to sit in the garden, looking at the flowers and listening to the birds, so I’ve incorporated several seats into our garden design over the years so we can now follow the sunshine around the garden! The garden faces slightly south-east I think, so the right hand side gets the morning sun and the left gets the afternoon sun.

The first seating area was my rose arbour, this is actually arbour number two as the first one eventually rotted. This one was a bit of a treat as my friend and I had admired them for several years at the Harrogate show and one year we finally managed to buy one each. I love it, especially the little shelves for a cup or a glass.

It overlooks the patio and the bird feeders, it has a Generous Gardener rose climbing up one side and a clematis up the other. It’s where I sat the other morning to listen to the dawn chorus. My OH doesn’t find it very comfortable, but I like having my morning coffee there, it get’s the morning sun.

In the circle of a patio we have what’s called a bistro set, a little table and two folding metal chairs. Even when we’re sat here the birds will often still use the feeders. This is my OH’s favourite place for morning coffee.

When we got married back in 2007 we bought ourselves a hexagonal summerhouse. I love it, I painted it soft green outside and cream inside. It’s got family photos, candle holders, comfy chairs and an old fashioned trolley. It’s great in all weathers, if I’m gardening and a light shower of rain starts, I’ll often pop in there whilst it passes – if I go inside I invariably don’t get out again! If there’s a bit of wind or a bit of a nip in the air, it’s lovely to have somewhere out of the weather to sit and have a coffee. I also like it in the summer to get some shade. It’s even nice on a warm evening in the summer with a glass of wine by candlelight.

A couple of years ago I realised that the area I had planted with lots of beds and narrow paths which was also overrun with weeds, was also the area of the garden which got the afternoon and evening sun. A redesign was called for, I dug the whole area up, levelled it and made a gravelled area, my Amber & Amethyst garden. Last year I built an arch and bought a seat to go under it. I’ve planted some clematis at each side, looking forward to the day when it’s covered – so far the blooms are beautiful but barely seat height!

I’m still tempted to repaint the seat, it’s just a bit bright in cream!

When we cleared my mum’s house and garden a couple of years ago when she went into a carehome, these chairs and table nearly went in the skip as they do look a bit on the shabby side, but then we sat in them! They’re actually plastic and they are so comfortable! The table isn’t too stable so you do have to keep hold of your glass of wine, but on a hot spring or summer afternoon it’s a lovely place to sit and chat over a glass of chilled white wine!

From here you look over to the pond area, it’s a lovely little view at the moment, Hubert the heron is disappearing behind the foliage and the flowers already…

Of course if the weather is really bad we can just sit in the conservatory and watch the birds from the comfort of a settee…

So anyone fancy a cup of Yorkshire Tea?