Astonica 50101020 Grapevine Garden Bench

Good garden furniture is expensive. Think about it. It has to bear the same weights as indoor furniture, and it has to do it after sitting in the sun and the rain, and the sun again, and the rain again. Could that dining room chair you paid three times as much for stand up to that?

This bench needs to be assembled. You get two cast-iron end pieces, five seat boards, and a pre-assembled back. Essentially, you line up the holes, and put in screws. There also are three braces. Two that come up from the end pieces on an angle to the bottom of the seat, and one that ties across all the seat boards in the middle. Note that contrary to what another reviewer thought, these braces, particularly the one under the middle of the seat, are not weight supporting pieces of the structure. They're what keep the bench from wobbling back and forth. The structural elements are the end pieces and the seat boards.

That brings up the choice of oak as the wood for this bench. Oak is not the best choice of wood for outdoor furniture. It does look good new, however. Combine that with cast-iron, which will rust, and we can see that this bench is not one you can set out in the open, and leave it. If you have severe weather in the winter, it should be brought into the garage. You'll also need to treat the wood, and sand off any rust each year. Even so, you may need to repaint the cast-iron, and replace the boards.

But what do you expect for the price. Really great garden benches start at about three times the price of this bench, and go up from there. Still, this bench is a good value because I believe it will last you at least three to six years, and with care, longer. If you want a bench now, and can't afford the top quality choices, this is a very good choice for you. It's definitely more than a step up from resin chairs!

Note that the legs of the bench are pointier than the blocky legs typically on an all wooden bench, and it does not have runners across the bottom like the typical park bench. Plan to place this bench on a flat, sturdy surface. If you set it on anything but the hardest ground, it can sink in. As an alternative, embed bricks or stones in the ground to support the legs. (This isn't a problem if you're placing the bench on a patio or other paved surface.)

As others have mentioned, the cardboard it's packed in will look pretty ratty after shipping. But the cardboard isn't a structural piece of the packing. The foam spacers and strapping are. The cardboard is just there to keep what's in the box from getting scratched. My box was in bad shape, showing that it had good reason to be there, but the parts inside were in perfect condition. If a seat board doesn't survive shipping, then it wouldn't have been any more suitable even if the box were in perfect condition upon arrival.

To put this all in perspective, you wouldn't see this bench at Mr. Burn's estate. It's a bit too nice for the Simpsons, but I think Ned Flanders would appreciate the good value, and classic aesthetics of this bench. And he'd probably buy a second one if he had someplace to put it.

So I gave it 5 stars for it's overall value, not just it's quality. There are far better benches out there, but you won't find them anywhere near this price range.