Alexander Rose Hardwood Garden Furniture

...arrived at Klondyke who stock Alexander Rose garden furniture. There were several benches to choose from, and we had seen one outside on a previous visit, so knew that they were not afraid for it to brave the elements.

=ALEXANDER ROSE GARDEN FURNITURE=

The firm is based in Sussex, and supplies a wide range of garden furniture and accessories. They are committed to careful selection of raw materials- always important ...
...manufactured under strict supervision by Alexander Rose. It is a very durable timber, with a long life span, and is ideally suited to the extremes of the European climate and often used in place of teak. The trees are found in moist semi-deciduous forests and in some parts of Africa grow to 160ft. known as the king among trees. There are two types – chlorophora regia and chlorophora excelsa, the regia meaning Royal in appearance is the found in Ghana. ... more

We recently had a new patio built and I had hoped to do a review but haven’t discovered a suitable topic in which to write about it, but as we have been enjoying sitting out in the sunshine we decided that we needed some more up-market garden furniture and so it’s about the garden bench that I am going to tell you about today.

I wanted a table, chairs and umbrella, but it would probably cover the whole patio and then you wouldn’t be able to admire the lovely pattern! So I agreed with my husband (unusually for me!) and we went looking yesterday for a bench instead. I had looked in the Argos book but as you can’t actually see the item before you buy it, we were a bit wary and so went to Homebase as they were advertising 10% off today and although the better half was working if we choose something I planned to go today to buy it, save 10%, and hoped some young strong man would help me carry it to the car!!

We walked up and down round and round, they had so many sets of garden furniture and benches in various prices. I nearly did myself an injury when I stepped up onto the display to try out a chair, I hadn’t noticed that the concrete slabs were balanced, very precariously on a few bricks, stand on one edge and HEY HO! There you go!! And so I very nearly did along with several bottles of Lemon oil for burners! After that fright I was very careful what I tried out, wondering if they had screwed everything together properly or if they had a camera trained on you to watch you land with your legs in the air, providing them with some film to send to Kirsty’s videos!

We were really quite disappointed although they had a large range, the range was mostly cheap and shoddy. Pieces were broken, large splinters sticking out etc and so off we went to a Garden centre.

It only took a few minutes by car and we had arrived at Klondyke who stock Alexander Rose garden furniture. There were several benches to choose from, and we had seen one outside on a previous visit, so knew that they were not afraid for it to brave the elements.

=ALEXANDER ROSE GARDEN FURNITURE=

The firm is based in Sussex, and supplies a wide range of garden furniture and accessories. They are committed to careful selection of raw materials- always important I think as we most look after our world. They have over 20years experience in marketing hardwood furniture in the UK, with a reputation for having the best in quality, style and comfort. There are over 600 stockist’s mostly garden centres or department stores. The products come in flat packs and if there is a problem due to faulty material or manufacture they will replace the item.

We had looked at pine, but my husband thought it would be wiser to spend more money and buy a hardwood bench which should last us for many years. The bench we were looking at was made from Iroko timber, which is sourced from Ghana, West Africa where it is manufactured under strict supervision by Alexander Rose. It is a very durable timber, with a long life span, and is ideally suited to the extremes of the European climate and often used in place of teak. The trees are found in moist semi-deciduous forests and in some parts of Africa grow to 160ft. known as the king among trees. There are two types – chlorophora regia and chlorophora excelsa, the regia meaning Royal in appearance is the found in Ghana. Excelsa means – tall. It is used for ships and boats, furniture, flooring and even draining boards as it is durable in wet conditions. Sounds ideal for our garden then!

=RANGE OF FURNITURE=

AVANT
There is the Avant range which is a contemporary design, a Danish designer helped here, it is timeless design using steel and teak. They have added to this Avant Noir, which is modern and uses black granite, teak and a textoline woven fabric, if you fancy a hammock they make a lovely one! Warning the 1metre square table in this range costs over £400 so it does not come cheap!

TEAK
There are 3 designs in the teak range, Southsea, Bengal and Mandalay. They have drinks trolleys, cushion boxes, planters as well as basic chairs, benches and tables. The 5 foot bench in the Mandalay range is RRP of £365.

IROKO
In this range there are 6 types Broadfield, Albany, Regency, Windsor, Royal and Classic. The cheapest item I noticed was a planter at £39, but there is a very large variety of items available. Our bench was from the Broadfield category. I’ve got my eye on a table and some other chairs, but perhaps they will wait until after our next holiday!!

BUDGET
Made from pine, which has been treated for a 10year lifespan, and can be treated yearly to increase its life. The 5ft. bench is only£99, and a picnic table is about £100.

There is also a selection of furniture covers and sunshades, and cushions if you like to have a padded seat.

More information is on the Alexander Rose website and catalogues are available if there isn’t a stockist in your area.

= VITAL STATISTICS=

Classed as a 5 foot bench, it does measure the full 60ins from end to end, but the actual amount to sit on is only 53.5ins, because of the arms! The seat is 17in off the ground and comfortable for us to sit on, the depth of the seat is 18ins. It is always important that people can sit comfortably, we had tried benches with curved seats and I had difficulty standing up, so in a few years I probably wouldn’t be able to do it!! There are 7 pieces of wood forming the seat, each about 1.75 wide and an inch in depth, so fairly strong for heavyweights! The back is what helped sell it to us, it is curved so supports your back fitting into the hollow, stopping me slouch so much! The back has 16 pieces, so plenty of support. The weight is 20kg and it is easy to make up. Anybody can do it, as long as they have the correct size Allen Key (not sure how to spell alan, allan, allen!) It comes in 4 pieces and is fitted together with only six special screws and 4 Phillips screws. There are some wooden pegs which fit in before the screws holding it in more securely. Discreetly on the one side is a little oval brass plaque stating made by Alexander Rose.

The wood is beautifully smooth and quite sensuous to the touch, even the young man who helped carry it out was surprised how nice it felt. We actually had the one made up in the shop because they had sold out, so a very helpful lady assistant dismantled it for us, and because it wasn’t in a flat pack it actually fitted easier into the car! Plus we knew exactly what the wood looked like on our bench. At the moment it is a medium light colour, with nice markings in the grain and will change in colour as it weathers, unless we decide to preserve it with one of the preservers available on the market. If we leave it, it should turn a soft silvery grey. Cleaning should be with mild soapy water.

=COST=

We paid £190 which was £5 more than the recommended price according to Alexander Rose. Whilst browsing I discovered we could have bought the same bench cheaper from a company called Groveland’s who even deliver free in the UK within 48hours, so we could have saved ourselves nearly £30. True it would have meant buying before seeing the product, but now that we know the quality I think I know where we’ll be buying more items from!

=PROBLEM=

I couldn’t take a photo yesterday as it was so wet! Is some Ghanaian chief doing a rain dance because Alexander Rose cut down his favourite tree? So this is a day late being posted.

Sun’s out review finished I’m off to sit on the bench or "my throne " and relax! Hope you like the photo.
 

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