Friggebod Friday

While the UK has a long tradition of shed culture, it is certainly not the only place with a history of shedlike atmospheres. Today Shedworking starts a new regular slot devoted to Swedish Friggebod (a topic we have touched on before). Here, for example, is a lovely model from Finja (which for those of us whose Swedish is woeful does have an English site) and you can download pdf details here. Helping with these posts will be our new Northern Europe correspondent Sy Willmer, whose own friggebod we covered here. As he explains: "The Swedish word 'bod' kind of means 'shed plus' - the word for shed is in fact 'skjul' but 'bod' is used in conjunction with a shed usage so Fiskbod = fisherman's hut, Snickbod = small wood work shop."

In fact friggebod is a play on words. When Swedish politician Birgit Friggebo was the country's Minister for Housing, she put a stop to the legal requirement to apply for a planning permit for small sheds under 10 square metres. As wikipedia explains, "the word was coined when someone tried to say "friggebo-bod" and stumbled on the words." The limit has now been extended to 15 square metres.