Monday, April 22, 2013

Shepherds' hut safety - a cautionary tale


"As a keen follower of all things shed I would like to give your readers this cautionary tale," writes Kim Burdon. "My wife, an artist, has used her shepherd's hut as a studio creating lino prints, oil paintings and watercolours. The hut also became a focus for all her influences and likes. Collections of old china, wallpaper samples, treasures from the garden and books. Emily is a professional artist and had spent the last two years building up a body of work ready to exhibit. Imagine her despair and horror when, on the morning of April 16, she turned up at our plot to find the the whole studio had gone.

"Thieves had stolen a trailer from up the road then come down and broken into our plot and hauled the whole thing away, Taking Emily's work, equipment and personal possessions with it. We called the police and they are doing due diligence, but in all honesty it could be anywhere. The hut was in the garden of our new build plot in Medstead near Alton Hampshire and although there were fears that it may possibly fall victim to petty crime or vandalism, we had not anticipated the taking of the whole hut.

"We have a second larger shepherd's hut we have been building ourselves and have taken immediate action to secure it, We have removed one of the wheels and placed a trench and fence across our drive. You can never underestimate what thieves are capable of doing.

"As a consequence of this theft we are keen for any information or sightings anywhere in Britain. Not only the shepherds hut, which has green corrugated iron walls with dove grey roof. A small window to the rear and a larger window in the right hand wall. There is a fitted bed frame across the back wall and the walls and ceiling are painted off white with a mustard coloured painted floor. It also has polystyrene insulation pushed up between the floor joists from below.

"Emily is  desperate to retrieve the contents. They may have been dumped, or burned, or there may be a chance that someone tries to sell them on. Any work will have the monogram 'EF' within it. To see the sort of work that was present you can look at Emily's web site at www.emilyfeaver.com."

We asked Richard Lee from Plankbridge for his thoughts. "I would be very interested to know if the wheels were under the sides or set outside. If the wheels are outside the body of the hut it wouldn't fit on a normal trailer - we have adapted a trailer to take the extra width, which is one of the features of a genuine shepherds hut. It would take some doing to take a hut, they are very difficult to load and move usually.

"We often suggest, when people are worried, to put some kind of ground anchor in, and chain the axles or wheels to that. Overall though they are difficult to load on a normal trailer and it would certainly need a winch and a fair amount of time, unless the thieves had experience of moving shepherds' huts... One idea we have been given by a customer is to paint the postcode on the top of roof, which may help I suppose. It's a very sad tale, and I hope Emily gets it all back." -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:29 PM

    As the creator of this hut it deeply saddens me to hear about Emilys' misfortune. The real giveaway with this hut is the wheels they are the only set like this and a clearer picture can be seen in my websites gallery at www.shepherdshuthaven.co.uk. If there is any way I can help with the finding of this hut I will.

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