I have the 'workbench book' which was a good use of £20 as I was intending to pay however much was required to give me what I want, and that's the most important question, so, what do you want?
Complexity isn't necessary, unless you want your workbench to be something you can stop and look at occasionaly and think 'I'm not so bad at this woodwork thingy' which is reassuring as something starts to go wrong, not that it ever happens to me, must change my tagline I suppose...
My workbench and my dad's are very similar, in that they both have a front vise, are about 2'x4', 36 high etc. the difference is mine weighs an absolute ton, is made from £200 of hardwoods and took me 3 weeks to make (3 proper weeks of 90+ hours per week). His is made from those cheap 2x4 pine strips that B&Q sell, it cost him £36 and he made it in an afternoon with a cheapy rolson vice. Obviously the most important things are being solid and stable, you can make it heavy with lots of expensive woods, make a hollow box and fill it with concrete, bolt it to the floor and wall (incredibly effective) or in your situation maybe you could get a cow to sit on one end of it?
What's your style of work is also a good place to start, small detailed boxes don't need a huge bench but maybe high enough and enough clearance underneath to sit at the bench is important? In the previously mentioned book there was one example of a workbench about 1 foot wide and 8 foot long, this was used by a guy who only used hand tools to square up long boards
If you have loads of space I'd make application specific benches, maybe one 'signature' piece bench for fine detailed hand-tool work and a large slab of a bench for assembling and mucky work made from MDF and ply. Though as you say, with a mud floor and no electricity, I think you have other priorities than a workbench!
Aidan
