Twenty-nine-year-old Sam Wilmot has been lucky enough to find a passion in life, and a unique one at that.
Since 2019, Wilmot has rated over 300 benches, scoring functional factors like back support, building material, and seat curvature, as well as more subjective, yet equally important aspects like the view and location. With each rating, he gives cool, sometimes cheeky insight into whatever bench he’s rating.
A brief tour of everyone’s favorite bench-rating Instagram page
For example, in his post about England’s National Coal Mining Museum’s wooden bench featuring Paddington Bear, which received a 6/10, Wilmot gave a brief history lesson about Paddington (a story based on a real teddy bear gifted on Christmas Eve in 1956 and inspired by wartime refugees and evacuees during WWII) and explained that the statue was there to promote the latest Paddington movie. He also noted that having Paddington’s cheerful presence on the bench raised its overall score “considerably.”
Or this “solid, unyielding and strong” stone bench, which was made in dedication to the men sent off to fight in the Great War, seven of whom were killed in the battle. This bench also got a 6/10.
Or this one, where Wilmot commends Birmingham’s “Black Sabbath bench” for featuring “one of the coolest features” he’s ever seen: an interactive QR code leading folks to take a “Black Sabbath bench selfie.” He also explains how the band named itself after a 1963 Italian horror movie with the same title, which happened to be playing in the theater across the street from the band’s rehearsal studio during their formative years. Still, that bench also received a 6/10.
Never in his seven-year stint has Wilmot given a bench a perfect 10 score
Nine out of ten, sure, which he had previously awarded to a bench just outside a 13th-century St. John the Baptist Church in Old Sodbury, South Gloucestershire. With features including a supportive backrest, comfortable armrests, and a nicely curved wooden seat, plus a view overlooking the English countryside stretching toward Bristol and Wales…it was about as close to a perfect score as you could get.
Still, Wilmot was holding out for that “overwhelming feeling of joy and awe” type of “wow” factor, only fitting for a 10/10 bench.
Then, on June 21, 2026, that very same bench delivered that overwhelming sense of joy and awe, that “wow” factor. Shooting it up to a perfect 10…
For on this bench, he married his fiancée, Sophie.
According to his post, their very first conversation was, quite fittingly, “bench-related.” Sophie had commended Wilmot for doing a “cracking” job with his content, and throughout their relationship, she has supported his passion. In fact, Wilmot writes that his page “would not exist without her or have become what it is today.”
And so, as they donned their wedding attire and the signature “hard stare,” the local bench was infused with all the memories of their relationship so far.
“People have tried to make out bench reviews and rankings to be boring and mundane, but there’s nothing boring about spending time outdoors and bonding with the person you grow to love whilst bench spotting,” wrote Wilmot. He added, “No moment or bench will ever come close to this for me, I can proudly say I have found my 10. In Sophie, and this bench. Sophie Alicia Wilmot, I love you.”
Whether for that elusive 10/10 score, or stumbling upon someone with an undeniably unique hobby, or witnessing the power of love to turn even the most mundane thing magical, fans new and old celebrated this milestone.
“Why, yes Instagram gods, I will follow the man who rates benches. Love a weird hobby over here (mine is spotting postboxes). Also 10/10 for the way you speak about your goddess of a wife and massive congratulations to you both.”
“Best bench of all!!! Congratulations! Enjoy the joy, the reflection, the view and just pondering that keeps married life better shared and enjoyed than life all by yourself. SO happy you found your love!”
“It has always been 10/10 for us as we installed it in memory of my father, who would have been amused and delighted with the feedback. We obviously chose well.”
Even Sheryl Oobaloos, Wilmot’s wedding photographer, couldn’t help but chime in, writing, “Honoured to capture this 10/10 moment for you and with you. In over a decade of weddings, this is one of the moments that will always stick out!! A fabulous couple and a pleasure to be a part of your story.”
Indeed, very often it is not the location, the comfort, or even the view that makes up our fondest memories; it’s the people we share them with. May we all feel that 10/10 feeling, bench or no bench.
