I’ve written about single person benches (sometimes aka chairs?!?!) a couple of times before, with mixed reviews, and this is more of that, I guess…
These are definitely benches rather than chairs though, in my opinion, simply due to their very class bench construction — wooden slat, metal frame, it would be hard to call them anything else. They’re arranged kind of casually, a bit like a messy living room that’s had little thought, but they’re fixed to the floor and elaborately tiled around, so somebody *did* think about these.
They back onto a moderately busy road, but there’s a little space, so it is possible to feel kind of relaxed and peaceful here, especially with the lovely view out across some classic watery Netherlands scenery
They lean a little too far back for my liking, and I still don’t know quite how I feel about one-person benches (it feels strangely against the communal/public spirit of a bench, and yet who actually wants to share a bench with a stranger, so… I don’t know…) but all in all, I couldn’t criticise them much apart from that.
Comfort of bench: 7/10
Capacity of bench: 1 per bench, but there are 3 of them!
View from bench: It’s lovely. 8/10
Accessibility of bench: I seem to remember some of the pavements were a little narrow/uneven to get here, which is unhelpful, but equally it’s the Netherlands, everything is flat and generally well designed, and I’m pretty sure there was a level road crossing just near them, so overall good.
Adventure level:4/10. S’Hertogenbosch is lovely, but a little off the usual Netherlands tourist trail. It’s only an hour or two south of Schipol airport though, on a lovely train, and well worth a visit if you want to see a cute small town (and one of the worlds most incredible collections of synthesisers)
unprecedented bench enthusiasm 