Friday Finery: Garden office library

This marvellous library in the garden by Koru Architects for a children's writer was shortlisted for the RIBA Downland Prize in 2006. Raised on timber stilts and built on Passivhaus principles while inspired by Japanese architecture, features include a wooden ramp access, rainwater collection system, and lovely views of the Kent countryside, reflecting the brief that called for a garden office building that would feel connected to nature. 

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Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information

Garden office haven

A 4.3m x 2.4m garden office in Hampstead, London, from Eden Garden Rooms set in a lovely established garden. The office is sited on the existing concrete footprint of an unused greenhouse and has two fixed floor to ceiling windows and a third similarly-sized opening glass door to offer smashing views onto the garden.

Other features include underfloor heating and oak-engineered wood flooring, an infrared sauna, and bespoke glazine.

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master, bespoke garden rooms and offices designed, manufactured and installed throughout the UK

Britain's best shed saunas

While technically the title of Hoxton Mini Press's latest book is Britain's Best Saunas by Lucie Grace, it does happily feature plenty of shedlike constructions around the country including repurposed horseboxes as well as the Beach Box Spa on Brighton beach above and the Sea Scrub Sauna at Margate below. As the publishers say, "Discover where to reconnect with nature, learn age-old rituals or simply soothe sore muscles. Grab your towel and soak up the heat."

 

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by Booths Garden Studios, the UK's No.1 supplier of zero maintenance and portable garden studios

Garden office tutoring room

 

Here's a 6m x 4m Cabin Master garden room in Lincolnshire built for Becky and Ben who use it as an HQ to run their Reading Doctor literacy tuition company. It's cedar-cladded with a zero-maintenance Marley back, and as well as office space it also doubles up in the evening as a family cinema room and general social space.

Here's what Becky says about it: 

"It's been kind of life-changing really. I always feel quite excited when I come out here into my garden room. But also your head's clear when you're out here. You're looking out onto the garden, you're away from the dishwasher and the washing and all the other things that I've left inside and closed the door on. So to come out here, I just feel clear-headed, and have a lot of fun thrown in as well!"

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Monday's posts are sponsored by Smart Modular Buildings, the UK's best garden room company

Friday Finery: Narvik

This tremendous design from Polhaus is a pleasing start to our 2026 Finery series on a Friday. The company offers a range of garden offices and similar shedlike buildings but this model (which also comes in kit form for self-assembly) caught the Shedworking staff's eye with its bronze tinted tempered glass, room for two to three people, and attractive shaping.

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Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information

'Sheds' exhibition at Turner House

 

A new exhibition featuring a wide variety of sheds opens today at The Turner House in Penarth, Wales.

'Sheds' runs until February 22 and features the work of photographer Jon Poutney and illustrator, designer, and professional spoon carver Lee John Philips (whom readers of Shedworking will remember from his The Shed Project in which he drew the entire contents of his grandparents' shed) who focus not only on the structures themselves but the contents inside and the stories these tell. Here's what Turner House says:

Together, their work transforms the humble shed into a lens for curiosity, creativity, and storytelling, inviting viewers to discover the extraordinary in the ordinary and to see these familiar spaces with fresh eyes. 

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master, bespoke garden rooms and offices designed, manufactured and installed throughout the UK

France’s 2026 ‘garden shed’ tax rates drop

Interesting news reported by The Connexion, which has been producing French news in English for nearly 25 years, to update us on what is known as the French 'garden shed' tax.

This taxe d’aménagement levy is imposed on a per m² basis for a variety of property improvements including garden offices/buildings, and has happily fallen a smidgeon over 4% for 2026, the first drop for nearly a decade as against annual rises (most recently 1.76% in 2025, 3.4% in 2024, and 8% in 2023)

The reason for the decrease is a bit complicated but essentially it's because it's not linked to inflation rates, but is based on a special construction cost index which is currently in favourable homeowner territory.

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by Booths Garden Studios, the UK's No.1 supplier of zero maintenance and portable garden studios