If you fancy a bit of luxury in the garden, why not consider a swing bench, or swing seat.  Swing benches have been around for a long time and you may remember your Granny having one in the garden, when you were young.  The principle is the same but the production methods have changed. As an item of luxury garden furniture, you should take care of your swing bench and it will reward you with many years of happy relaxation.

Of course, there is a huge variety in the types of swing seat available, but the 3 seater option is by far the most popular, and this would normally include the cushions and canopy. The larger swing benches will be long enough to lie out on and this would generally be true of the 3 seater.  There are some swing seats on the market now that fold down to make a narrow double bed – imagine being rocked to sleep by that! Production materials are either wood or metal.

Looking at the metal garden swing bench, the most comfortable would have a “sprung” seat beneath the cushions, but the less expensive garden swing seats will have a canvas or woven mesh base.  The “sprung” seat will have a certain amount of elasticity, which adds to the comfort factor when you sit on it.  Wooden garden swing benches cannot, for obvious reasons, have a sprung seat and therefore the thickness and quality of the cushions becomes more important.

Your swing seat cushions would normally be anything up to 10cms thick, and this would certainly be advisable on a wooden swing seat.  For a metal swing bench with a sprung seat, a minimum of a 5cm thick cushion would suffice, but the thicker the better.  Swing bench cushions are often supplied as separate items, meaning that a 3 seater swing seat will have 3 separate cushions.  Bench style cushions are also commonplace, but normally for the less expensive swing bench.

Care and maintenance of your garden swing seat is very important and we would always recommend that you try and store the swing bench inside during the winter.  Wooden swing benches may require some wood oil and metal swing seats should be checked for scratches and “touched up” if required.

In summary, price will normally dictate quality and don’t buy a cheap garden swing bench.  Rust or poor quality wood may be the result.  A good garden swing seat will cost in excess of £400 – so be prepared!