Made in Kent · wooden planters

We got tired of planters that turn up as a weekend project. So we stopped making them that way.

Order a wooden planter and there’s a fair chance it arrives flat in a box, with a bag of screws, no liner, and a note to seal it yourself before use. Here’s why we send the Sussex the other way: solid, finished, and ready to plant.

By Alan Brimm · Trelush · Manston, Kent

Flat-pack planter parts, screws, sealant and liner on the left versus the Sussex fully assembled and planted on the right
Most planters: a flat box and a lost Saturday. The Sussex turns up like the one on the right.

The bit nobody mentions until it’s on your doorstep

You order a planter. It looks great in the photo. Then a flat box turns up, and your Saturday disappears.

If you read the reviews on the cheap ones, the same afternoon plays out again and again. “A bit fiddly to assemble.” “Product requires sealing before use, had to buy a spray sealant.” “It doesn’t come with a liner, so I staple-gunned a plastic bag and cut holes in the bottom.” And once it’s together: “feels quite flimsy and thin,” “every panel bent like a banana,” “not very strong.”

So you’ve spent the afternoon, spent a bit more on sealant and liner, and you’re still left with something you’re not sure will see out a winter. That’s not a planter. That’s a project that ends in a shrug.

A planter shouldn’t be a weekend project

Here’s the thing we kept coming back to in the workshop. Look at what people actually praise in the reviews, and it isn’t the price or the looks first. It’s “easy to assemble” and, better still, “came assembled.” The single most common thing buyers talk about is the faff of putting the thing together, which tells you how much they’d rather not.

So we build the Sussex to skip all of it.

What turns up

The Sussex arrives solid and fully assembled. Not a flat-pack. You lift it out of the box, carry it to the spot, fill it with compost and plant it. That’s the afternoon, the good part of it anyway.

The Sussex Planter empty, one solid piece, fully assembled and lined, with a raised inner floor
One solid piece, fully assembled and lined, drainage built in. No flat-pack, no bag of screws.

Already finished

Finished in Timbac, our non-toxic water-and-wax treatment. No sealing it yourself, no coat to dry, no chemical smell to air off.

Already lined

Lined inside with the drainage built in. No cutting a pond liner, no stapling a parcel bag, no drilling holes and hoping.

Solid timber

Solid Northern European softwood that holds its shape, not the thin cladding that warps or bends like a banana.

A floor that drains

A raised inner floor so it doesn’t sit in trapped water and rot from the bottom. Built in, not bodged on.

Three steps: open the box, lift it out, fill and plant - no sealing, no liner, no propping on bricks

The Sussex Planter

★★★★★72 reviews

✓ Free UK delivery on every order

Same-day dispatch before noon · 2-3 working days · 2-year guarantee

Solid and assembled, vs flat-pack, sealed and lined

The Sussex

  • Arrives fully assembled
  • Already finished in Timbac
  • Already lined, drainage built in
  • Solid softwood, holds its shape
  • Raised inner floor that drains
  • Made in our Kent workshop
  • 2-year guarantee, 90-day returns

A typical flat-pack

  • Flat-pack, a bag of screws
  • Seal it yourself before use
  • Line it yourself, cut your own holes
  • Thin cladding that warps or bends
  • Flat base that sits in water and rots
  • Imported, no traceability
  • Short or no guarantee

72 gardens in, and “ready assembled” keeps coming up as the big bonus

★★★★★ 4.88 out of 5 · 72 reviews

“Sturdy, well built, ready assembled, good price.” — H.

“Great quality, pretty sturdy, and assembled is a big bonus. Arrived sooner than expected.” — Lynn J.

The Sussex Planter planted with flowers in a real garden

Sturdy, and assembled. Those are the two things people get burned on with the flat-pack ones, and the two things we set out to get right.

Lift it out, plant it, done

You’re not gambling £30 on another weekend project. Every Sussex comes fully assembled, with free UK delivery, a 2-year full guarantee (no exclusions, covers rot and manufacturing), and 90-day free returns including large items. Same-day dispatch before noon, with you in two to three working days. Lift it out of the box and you’re planting by the weekend.

The Sussex Planter

★★★★★72 reviews

✓ Free UK delivery on every order

Same-day dispatch before noon · 2-3 working days · 2-year guarantee

  • Arrives fully assembled and lined
  • Already finished in Timbac, no sealing
  • Solid Northern European softwood
  • Raised inner floor, drains, stays dry
  • Free UK delivery on every order
  • 2-year guarantee, no exclusions
  • 90-day free returns, including large items