With a wealth of established Gardens here in the UK, we'd be silly to look elsewhere for beautiful Winter scenes now the weather has turned:

In this post, we'll show you how the gardens were looking last week as a blanket of snow hit areas all over the UK:

 

 

RHS Garden Harlow Carr in snow (rhs.org.uk/Gardens/Harlow-Carr) - Picture: ALAMY

The frost covered branches here at the RHS Garden in Harlow-Carr glimmer as the light catches on them. This might be a beautiful sight, but what does this mean for your garden furniture? Protection! We have a fantastic range of weather covers suitable for benches and picnic tables, which are perfect for fending off the wet and cold. 

Mottisfont, Hampshire (nationaltrust.org.uk/mottisfont) - Picture: JASON INGRAM

The National Trust gardens in Mottisfont, Hampshire look stunning as the water sprays up over the weir, and with opening hours all the way through Christmas, theres no reason not to go and enjoy the serene beauty of this wonderful resource. 

Winter grasses at RHS Garden Harlow Carr, North Yorkshire (rhs.org.uk/Gardens/Harlow-Carr) - Picture: ALAMY

The Winter grasses highlight the dew which has been transformed into brittle morning frost. 

Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire (waddesdon.org.uk)

The manor currently has two light installations by Bruce Munro, Blue Moon on a Platter and Angel of Light open until Jan 1st. Closed Dec 24th, 25th & 26th (waddesdon.org.uk). 

RHS Garden Rosemoor, Devon (rhs.org.uk/Gardens/Rosemoor) - Picture: ALAMY

 More Winter grasses this time at RHS Garden Rosemoor, Devon. 

Sparkle: The Alnwick Garden, Northumberland (alnwickgarden.com)

This beautiful walkway is adorned with lights. When the lighting installation is activated, the hornbeam pergola will be illuminated with blue and white lights.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden (botanic.cam.ac.uk)

The Cambridge University Botanic Garden is one of the UK's most reknowned gardens. Open 10am-4pm November - January, the beautiful wintery hues can be viewed in peace all day.

Another close up shot from the Cambridge University Botanic Garden (botanic.cam.ac.uk) 

The Winter Walk at Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire (nationaltrust.org.uk/angleseyabbey) - Picture: NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES 

These silver birch trees form part of the Winter Walk at Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire. This garden has fantastic walks and scenic places to sit and enjoy the local birds and wildlife. For opening times please check the national trust site link above!

Bodnant Garden, Conwy, Wales (nationaltrust.org.uk/bodnant-garden) - Picture: NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES

 Bridge walkers at Bodnant Garden, Conwy, Wales are enjoying the natural wonders of great british gardens. But how long until that water is frozen?!

The Winter Garden at Dunham Massey, Cheshire (nationaltrust.org.uk/dunhammassey) - Picture: JONATHAN BUCKLEY

The Winter Garden at Dunham Massey, Cheshire is open all year round, just like most of our favourite UK gardens.

If we stop supporting these fantastic resources, then unfortunately the gardens wont survive to be around for generations to come. We all have a responsibility to express our love for these national institutions. 

So if you're looking for a garden to attend this Christmas, then the best place for you to check out all the details is the National Trust's visit page: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/

If you would like more information about the beautiful gardens and walks in the Henley-in-Arden area, then give us a call or pop us an email! 

Remember that if youre intending on keeping your benches or garden furniture outdoors this winter, you can protect them from the harsh weather with our weather covers available in many sizes.

 We recently took a trip to Indonesia to showcase the production of our quality Benches:

Indonesia - Java Yogyakarta Meseta De Dieng

Whilst there we absorbed the natural beauty we commonly assosciate with Indonesia. From the short trip we took great inspiration for our next range of Benches. We also found out loads of great information about how our products are produced, from timber to the showroom, which we thought we'd bring to you!

An ornate Day Bed

One thing that was noticable whilst in the Java district was that infrastructure had definately been improved, and whilst on the Java transportation network, we saw clear signs that things are moving forward in Indonesia.

Sore di Jembatan

 Whilst traditional techniques are still used for many things, there are increasing levels of decadent spending across the region, which can often be seen in places of religious significance.

The underwater mosaic near the jungle gates

The underwater mosaic near the Jungle Gates is a picture-perfect example of this, clearly showing the polarised worlds of the working class compared to the wealthy. 

Traditional farming techniques still being employed

Techniques used in agricultural and arable farming have remained near enough the same for hundreds of years. The same can be said for the all important furniture industry in Indonesia, whilst demands have increased exponentially, the traditional techniques have remained crucial in order to deliver the quality worksmanship we all have come to expect from Indonesian furniture.

Hand carved furniture

One thing which astounded us on our trip, was how friendly and forthcoming with information the people we met were.

"Knowledge is itself one of the highest enjoyments. The ignorant man passes through the world dead to all pleasures" - Samuel Smiles

People stopped us in the street to take photos, and we're all too happy to answer our questions about their lifestyle and job prospects. This wasnt just our suppliers, who would be expected to humour us, it extended to just about anyone keen enough to take an interest in our party, including but not limited to, the police!

A little..."hiccup" on Route

Whilst travelling to visit the FSC Certified forests that our suppliers own, we had a small road traffic incident involving another car, and so had to spend an hour or so with the local police. This was a jovial affair, with introductions and photos going on long after our incident had been recorded!

Jon with the local, but very friendly, gendarme!

When we reached our destination in the Muang District, we got to see loads of the products that we all know and love so well from the showroom in their first stages! It was great to see the same techniques being employed as when I first started visiting the region over a decade ago.

The first port of call was to go and check out the forest which at this time of year was covered with fallen leaves and branches, perfect for collecting our sustainable and environmentally friendly timber!

Small children preparing the land to plant a teak sapling

Women working in the teak forest

We also picked up a copy of the FSC Certificate for our suppliers forest in Thailand, giving us formal assurance that he is meeting environmental standards, treating his workers fairly and of course making sure that the forest is there long term. Smartwood is a part of the Rainforest Alliance, which is accredited by the FSC, the gold standard in the forestry world.

Our Forest Stewardship Council Certification for Forests in Thailand

After we had visited the forest, we went to one of the nearby production studios, to take a gander at the furniture you see on our website being made from scratch.

Raw Materials - These Antique Teak Canoes are turned into one of our classic peices

More Antique Teak Canoes

Reclaimed Teak Canoe Bench - the finished article

Remember that you can buy the rustic, charming Canoe Bench you see pictured direct from our website amongst many other totally unique peices.

One of the family completing a display cabinet made from an old Canoe

The team inspect their handywork

These Canoe sideboards are really unique, and are simply guarenteed to be met with curiosity, so if you're looking for a focal talking point to be the centre peice in any room, then let us know and we'll see if we can supply you one of these fantastic new products.

Ingenius idea for a sideboard

This sideboard definately caught my eye, how about yours?

This stunning teak bench is made from one solid peice of teak, hand crafted into a superb bench, great for whiling away the summer hours, or procrastinating from that essential Winter garden maintenance!

A Bench crafted from one solid peice of reclaimed teak

Amongst the fine array of reclaimed benches we also saw some beautiful day beds which we will have in stock shortly. These day beds are infused with Indonesian style, allowing you to bring a little colonial touch to any space.

A gorgeously decorated Indonesian day bed

Just look at the detail, hours and hours of focus have come together to produce these brilliant one off peices. 

What a wicked headboard that would make?!

Great interior furnishings, a fruit bowl, picture and a mask sculpture.

Seeing all these great examples of places to relax made us all want to lie down! But no rest for the wicked, we were then off to see some top secret new peices, that will surely be making their way to our showroom in the new year! For now these will have to stay under wraps, but stay tuned for more updates!

If you can't wait that long, then take a look now at our range of Reclaimed Benches & Teak Benches now in stock!

Here at Benches we've been working on our social media presence. We now have pages dedicated to Benches on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and we'd like to invite you to join us! 

 If you want to stay tuned to the latest product releases, discount offers, and prize competitions then simply Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter, or +1 our Google+ page.

Not only would we love feedback on the products we sell, but we'd really appreciate your support to get the word out about our excellent customer service and expert knowledge.

So if you've purchased a product from Benches and want to share your opinions about it with the rest of the world, then simply find us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ and leave a comment! We will try our hardest to get back to you within 48 hours.

As an added incentive, we will be giving away a Bench cover in our first competition starting next week, so make sure you in with a chance by Liking Benches.co.uk on Facebook, or by following us on Twitter or by +1'ing us on Google.
Anyone who does will be automatically entered into the competition which closes on the 7th November 2012.