Hand-Carved Viking Oak Garden Arbour with Swing Bench

This is Jens’s arbour.

He came to us from Denmark — living in London now, but his roots were the starting point. He’d built a stream through his garden and shaped a stone platform beside it, leaving a specific space for what he had in mind. A structure that felt genuinely Norse. Not a nod to Viking culture, but a real expression of it.

We spent the winter on it.

The frame is air-dried oak throughout, built using traditional mortise and tenon joinery. The four posts are hand-carved with Viking knotwork running their full height. The main overhead beam carries a continuous Celtic braid. The curved brackets sweeping from post to beam echo the prow of a Viking longship, with spiral scroll ends. At the apex, two crossed swords rise above the structure. On the right-hand post, runes are carved spelling out Jens’s name in the old alphabet. At the foot of one post, a wolf’s head watches over the threshold.

The suspended swing bench — 196cm wide — hangs on heavy steel chain and seats three or four adults comfortably. Two fixed side seats are built into the base frame. The whole structure anchors into the ground on concrete pads sunk 46cm deep.

Every carving pattern, every proportion, every detail was worked out between our workshop and Jens over months of collaboration. The culture is his. The craft is ours. Jens is very happy with it.

Dimensions

• Swing bench width: 196cm
• Overall frame width: approximately 300cm
• Height to beam: approximately 240cm
• Ground anchors: 46cm deep

Your version

We can design a Viking or Celtic garden arbour around your garden, your story and your own ideas. The carving motifs, the scale, the details — everything is open. Get in touch and we’ll start the conversation.

From £6,000 — Lead time approximately 3 months — Handmade in Mid Wales