The Park Bench Appreciation Society

It's good to have a nice sit down.

We recently met up with Leland Carlson from the Dull Men's Club - Mission Statement: “It’s OK to be dull” - and had a nice day out in Stockport. Our first port of call was the Town Hall to visit a giant postcard fair, surprisingly the first Leland had visited.

It's quite possible he's now been hooked on collecting postcards as Emily managed to find a card depicting one of his areas of interest - park benches. In fact he ended up buying more than one.

Having a nice sit down on a bench in Stockport. Photo by Leland Carlson

On our travels Emily and I have also had a sit on the Longest Bench in the world. It's in Littlehampton.

Earlier this year we also had the opportunity to see the new bench at the excellent Splash Point Mini Golf course in Worthing.

The new addition to Splash Point Mini Golf

Visit the Dull Men's Club website to find out more.

Sitting on the Longest Bench in the World. In Littlehampton!

Having a nice sit down after a long day of Minigolf.

On my travels around the UK I'm always on the lookout for interesting, unique, odd and obscure things to see, do and visit.

During a conversation about Littlehampton and Crazy Golf last year I was told that the town is home to the Longest Bench in the World. In fact, the people who told me about it were the very same people who designed it! I made a note to visit the bench when I eventually made it to Littlehampton.

Last summer we had run out of time on a Crazy World of Minigolf Tour roadtrip from Hastings towards Littlehampton and ended the day in Worthing. Similarly we failed to make it to Littlehampton on a trip from the direction of Southsea and ended that journey in Felpham, near Bognor Regis. So, having spent the weekend playing in the BMGA British Masters minigolf tournament in Worthing I took the opportunity to make the short trip along the coast to Littlehampton to check out the Minigolf courses there.

Looking at the information board and map on the seafront I noticed that the Longest Bench was not too far from where I had parked and was very close to one of the Miniature Golf course locations I was looking for at Banjo Road, so I headed along for a quick sit down.

A view of the Longest Bench in the World, built in July 2010, stretching along the Littlehampton Promenade

The bench is not as I expected it to be. I imagined that it would be one long bench like a Park Bench. But it's a very higgledy piggledy construction (at least at either end) and stretches along for some distance in a slightly more regular fashion along the promenade.

I'm looking forward to a return trip to Littlehampton with Emily to further explore the town, visit the amusements and Harbour Park and play the many Minigolf courses there. I'll also have another nice sit down on the Longest Bench in the World and take in the views of the beach and sea.

Links:

- Studio Weave & Longest Bench in the World project page

- The Longest Bench in the World website

- The Longest Bench on Twitter

- The Longest Bench Facebook page

Related Blog Post Links:
- A Stack of Minigolf Courses Visited in Littlehampton, but None Played!
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Bench Related Photo Link:
- In January 2012 I had a sit down on a random BIG bench that is in Hitchin, Herts!