We Bought the Swing Seat, Sitting Spiritually Brought the Music by Suzanne Burden

So, having designed his Shed and work was completed on it, it was time to find a swing seat to make sense of the great overhang my husband Chris wanted (and got) that shelters the deck of the Shed.

I am a monthly subscriber to Country Living, and was leafing through one of their supplements on garden furniture, and there it was! Exactly the kind of swing seat we were looking for.  A call to Martin at Sitting Spiritually was swiftly returned, and at his suggestion I motored from our home in Cornwall to see him in Dorset with our two pug dogs, Captain and Gabriel, en route to visiting Chris in London.

It was a  Summer’s day and a really pretty detour to Martin and Celia's home and beautiful garden. When I arrived, the first thing Martin offered to do was to help me walk the dogs: Captain is 14 years old and Gabe at that time less than a year old, so it can be quite awkward walking them together on my own.

Dogs made comfortable and settled in the shade, Martin then offered me a cup of tea (made by Celia) and showed me his workshop where the first ever Sitting Spiritually seat was made, and told me the story of how the company came into being. Then I was led into their amazing garden and given a tour of the full range of Sitting Spiritually seats.   I felt like Goldilocks, trying all the seats until I found the seat that was perfect for our needs (the first one I sat in, in fact).

Then we talked about the different sizes we could have, the different arm styles, to cushion or not to cushion… then we got down to brass tacks and  the business of ordering, deposit paying and expected delivery time.  We could wait and think about an inscription for the time being. And that was that.

Martin was brilliant at keeping us onside every step of the way. We decided on Sometimes Just The Sky as the inscription because, as Patti Smith put it in an interview she gave, sometimes just the sky is enough (rather than thinking one has to go through tortures to be fulfilled and happy).  It’s also the album title of a favourite American singer/songwriter of ours, Mary Chapin Carpenter (she liked the Patti Smith interview too). And we also witness sensational skies from our swing seat. When the seat was completed we were sent photos (we were squealing with excitement by this time) and once we’d completed our payment, delivery was taken exactly when Martin said it would be.

The seat was installed quickly and efficiently by Martin’s go-to delivery people Saturn Removals, and then Chris and I and the dogs (and friends, family and neighbours too) have not stopped enjoying the seat since. In fact, our friends Neil and Sophie are ordering one too! Neil’s the one playing accordion on our swing seat in the photo at the top!

So, thank you Martin and all at Sitting Spiritually for making Chris’s shed and lookout complete.