The nation’s favourite gardener Alan Titchmarsh has outlined his struggle to find the perfect garden chair – and his struggle to stay in the chair once he finds one
Alan says that picking out the right garden furniture is tricky(Image: ITV/Tony Ward/Shutterstock)
Veteran gardener Alan Titchmarsh told his wife “we need to move on” as he addressed an issue with furniture that makes him “weary”.
Alan confessed that, while he’s arranged various chairs and benches to offer perfect vantage-points to appreciate the views in his garden, he struggles to use them for more than a few minutes at a time. Almost as soon as he sits down, he will see something that could do with pruning, or a stray vine that needs to be tucked back into a trellis.
Even looking at his garden furniture leaves Alan feeling restless: “I can always find room for a Lutyens-style bench or chair – the ones with the curlicue backs,” he writes in Country Life. “They are supremely elegant, comfortable when equipped with cushions, but, oh, I am so weary of seeing them absolutely everywhere. We need to move on, I tell my wife – and myself.”
The challenge is finding a bench that’s comfy enough, according to the expert. Alan’s wife Alison places a particularly high priority on comfort.
Despite Alan’s insistence that the most important thing about garden furniture looks good, he accepts Alison’s point that comfort is everything.
Alan admits he struggles to relax in his garden
“I know she is right,” Alan admitted. “The seat in question needs to be reposed upon before a final commitment is made.
“We have both parked our bottoms on some excruciatingly torturous chairs and benches over the years – the sort that send you rushing for the Radox on your return home.”
Another important factor to consider, Alan says, is how much a garden chair weighs. Alan bought what he describes as “comfortable, but excessively heavy curved teak jobs” a couple of years ago.
Alan said: “I can shift them, but my wife is powerless to move their weighty bulk more than a few inches at a time. As a result, they tend to stay put at a distance from the garden table where they allow easy access to the average thigh, but are close enough to facilitate the partaking of lunch or supper.”
Alan’s wife Alison has her own criteria for perfect garden benches(Image: ITV)
Alan says he has another option when it comes to garden furniture, and in some ways it’s the best choice.
He has a pair of teak steamer chairs, designed to look like the ones that passengers on the venerable liner The Queen Elizabeth might have belonged on while crossing the Atlantic.
“I do not pretend to myself that they are originals, but the pattern is identical to those that furnished the decks of the ocean liner,” Alan says.
“They do have one distinct advantage: the difficulty of getting in and out of them – negotiating the adjustable arms and the sticking-out footrest – means that, once ensconced and well padded with two or three cushions, I am happy to remain there for more than a few minutes.
“The effort of extracting myself from their clutches after a hearty lunch means that it makes more sense to doze off for a while.”
Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh airs on ITV today (Sunday, October 12) at 9.30pm.
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