Arbour Seat Buying Guide

How to Choose the Right Arbour Seat

An Arbour seat in your garden can provide the ideal shelter to relax and enjoy the vista and Arbours are one of the most popular item to quickly enhance the appearance. If you're planning a landscaping project in your garden its always worth planning to fit a Garden Arbour Seat into your scheme, because they are so useful and they can create a focal point in the landscape design and are simple to build without too much ground preparation.

Arbour seats fit into all shapes and sizes of gardens so whether you have a grand landscaped garden or a small bijoux garden, there will be a style suitable. There are corner Arbour options where the seat fits into a right-angle corner of your garden which gives slightly more seating space. Some Arbours come with pitched roofs, open pergola type roofs, or even wooden shingle roofs and so you need to consider the height allowance of the roof and how much sunlight and protection you need.

Another point to consider is how much shelter and protection are you needing as some arbours come with an open trellis design allowing you to see your garden beyond the Arbour, some examples of these are the Zest Rutland, the Forest Garden Sienna, Grange and the Rowlinson Jaipur. You can see through the wooden trellis sides and backing, which offer an open aspect and allows you to grow climbing plants such as clematis or fragrant honeysuckle.

Alternatively, you may be looking for more shelter and protection, and so a seat with a solid timber back and roof may be more suited, these are ideal if you have an exposed garden and want protection from the wind.

Alternatively, they can be painted with timber paint. I like the idea of painted arbour seat because you can tie this colour into the colour scheme of the garden. A great example is you may want to site the Arbour seat adjacent a wooden fence, you could paint the fencing and the Arbour seat in the same colour paint which will give the illusion of tying it in to the boundary, often this can give the illusion of more space in your garden. In opposition to this you could paint the Arbour seat in a contrasting colour to make it stand out, this will then become a stand out feature or focal point of your garden.

Once you paint the seat, you will have to continue to paint generally every 3 years just to maintain the appearance. There's a great range of colours available, especially within the Cuprinol Colours range. From my experience, I find it's durable, lasts for ages and adds a great weather proof protection to the timbers, however, the amount of protection will depend on the aspect of the arbour in your garden. A sunny south facing position will require more frequent coats of paint.

If you have an unused corner of the garden then a corner arbour seat will be perfect, proving a comfortable retreat without taking too much garden space and they are simple to assemble without too much ground preparation. Croner Arbours come in different sizes, and below are some great examples.

As you can see they all have distinct features and allow for different seating arrangements.

Choosing a Traditional Arbour or a Contemporary Arbour

If you have a traditional 'cottage garden' then more than likely you will want an Arbour seat that is a classical design with a traditional pitched roof or arched roof beams.

If you have a modern contemporary garden design you may be looking for a more current style arbour seat with modern straight lines and modern curved roofing.

It's always best to site your Arbour seat on firm level ground as it will look more pleasing and more importantly be stable.

All the Wooden Arbours are simple to build and can usually be completed within 5 simple stages. Generally, you start with the seat construction, then add the sides and back panels, then 4 screws usually fix the apex of the roof and then the roof structure is fixed to the upright posts with screws. Arbour seats are designed to be freestanding. If you are fixing onto a patio or concrete you can always use four metal right angled brackets fixed to the ground using anchor bolts just for additional stability.