Rural homeworking: latest figures

According to the latest report from Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the 24.9 million people in work in England in 2013, 3.5 million were homeworkers (those who usually spend at least half of their work time using their home, either within their grounds or in different places or using it as a base).

The highest rate of homeworkers is in rural hamlets and dispersed areas, at 33 per cent, compared with 12 per cent in urban areas. Overall rural areas had a higher rate of homeworking compared with urban areas, says the report - in 2013, there were 994,000 homeworkers in rural areas and 2,490,000 in urban ones.

Between 2006 and 2013, the rate of homeworking increased faster in all rural areas compared with urban ones. The highest increase was in rural hamlets and 'dispersed areas' at 4.7 per cent.

According to the Office for National Statistics, homeworkers are more likely to be working in higher skilled roles and earn on average a higher hourly wage.
  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Homestead Timber Buildings - Manufacturers of Quality Timber Buildings

Garden office: audio dictionary definition (video)

To the point, if unlikely to be nominated for an Oscar.

Bespoke music studio

Built by Tinyhouse UK for a composer near Guildford, it has six inch thick walls providing additional soundproofing and high ceilings. Features include a cedar roof and extrior walls in Waney Edge. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning

Nuclear bunker garden office

 

 

 

It needs some slight refurbishment, but if you've ever fancied working in a former nuclear bunker, here's the very thing, on with Clive Emson Auctioneers to be sold by public auction on March 23 (guide price £10,000-£15,000).

The bunker is on the Peninsula Way (A228), close to Hoo villae, Rochester, Kent. It is around 7’ x 15’ with access from ground level down a vertical ladder. According to the auctioneers, it was once manned by two or three people (so adequate room for a shedworker) and was one of 1,500 similar underground monitoring posts around the UK build in the 1950s to report a nuclear attack and monitor the fall-out. This one up for sale was a master post which served other local ones nearby and like them was closed down in 1991.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Vittra School Brotorp: Interior shedworking for children

Rosan Bosch's new design for a school in Stockholm features a variety of interesting learning spaces and what they describe as "small niches for concentration and contemplation" including these marvellous shedlike structures pictured above.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Homestead Timber Buildings - Manufacturers of Quality Timber Buildings

The Perfect Commute: Show Garden for Malvern Spring Festival 2015

Almost certainly the most shedworkingy of this year's show gardens will be The Perfect Commute, designed by Deborah Bird from Beholder's Eye at this year's Malvern Spring Festival. Here's how she described what looks like a must-see garden specially for Shedworking readers:

"The Perfect Commute is being created for a designer who runs a consultancy from their home. They have allocated a space at the end of their garden for their working area. The design is to be imagined as part of a larger space, sectioned off with a low boundary to demarcate the area from the rest of the domestic garden.  It has a sheltered indoor working area in the form of a building being supplied by The Posh Shed Company.  This is mirrored by a sunken seating area for relaxing and meeting clients.  The garden is bounded by Jacksons Venetian fencing, sat on top of steel gabions which will be backed with natural materials.

"A focal point of the design will be a metalwork sculpture by Paul Margetts, a sculptor from Worcestershire. This piece is called ‘Focus’ and will be positioned in a raised bed and surrounded by multi-stem birch trees and soft planting. Throughout the design, planting has been chosen for year-round structure with an emphasis on spring/summer flowering specimens for the show.

"The design was inspired by a desire to minimize the daily commute, an escape from rush hour queues and the encasement of fluorescently lit office blocks. (Truth be told, it’s me building my own personal fantasy)."

Inspiration for some of the design elements is detailed on a Pinterest page set up by Deborah and she will be writing a blog during the build and run up to the show.  The garden also has a twitter page @perfect_commute

I know there are many of you who like a full breakdown of garden details so here it is:


Designer:
Deborah Bird, Beholder's Eye, Birmingham, 07931 728 007, beholders_eye@outlook.com
Diploma in Garden Design (Pickard School of Garden Design) | MA in Garden Design (Staffordshire University)
Previous awards: 2 x Bronze Medals at Malvern Autumns Shows; 2 x Silver Medals at Malvern Spring Shows and one ‘Best Border in Show’

Sponsors:
The Posh Shed Company, Eardisland, Herefordshire
Paul Margetts Sculpture and Metal-Work, Belbroughton, Worcestershire
Jacksons Fencing, Ashford, Kent
Nature First, Down Hatherley, Gloucester

Lunapods: transparent shedworking

Although squarely aimed at the glamping market, there's no reason why Lunapods should not make great garden offices (as long as you don't mind losing a little bit of privacy). The inflatable transparent bubble design (rather reminiscent of Bubbletree) is 4m diameter plus a 2m porch (including a kind of airlock mechanism for anybody who's ever dreamed about working in space), the whole thing inflated using a special silent pump to ensure fresh air and no condensation. Ballast and velcro straps prevent the wind blowing your shedlike atmosphere away.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning

Garden office calling home

We've covered Paul Hurst's clever Fibonacci garden office elsewhere on Shedworking so were delighted to hear from Paul about how he has been settling in.

"The building is working really well," he says, " and I have just set up a pair of Swedish Army field telephones - via fleabay - to communicate with the house. Each has a magneto to ring the bell at the other end, and standard D cell battery to power the handsets. Being a muso I've used normal 1/4 jack plugs and sockets (Les Paul guitar repro) to connect at each end, with plenty of spare cable to move the 'phones around at each end - got bthe idea from the old telephone exchanges." --------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

The Bookshed

Nottingham-based Gillian James runs her online secondhand book business from her wooden shed in the back garden of her home where she keeps her stock of around 10,000 books (with an emphasis on children's books). You can catch up with her on Twitter.

Post by BBC Radio Nottingham.

Photo courtesy Nottingham Evening Post (clink link to read an interview with Gillian). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning