Dylan Thomas's writing shed's doors

The original doors to Dylan Thomas's writing-shed,Laugharne, now housed in the wonderful permanent exhibition at the @DTCSwansea ... pic.twitter.com/1q4VjJDZWq

— RichardBurtonMuseum (@BurtonMuseum) September 2, 2017

The original doors to Dylan Thomas’ writing shed in Laugharne were unaccountably chucked onto a council rubbish tip from where they were rescued in the 1970s and you can see them - and plenty of other DT memorabilia - in the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea and at Bald Hiker. --------------------------------------------------------

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Monty Don in his writing shed

My Monty is in the writing shed. 🐾🐾 pic.twitter.com/gb95TgTKDg

— Monty's Dog Nellie🐾 (@montysdognellie) September 9, 2017

We've talked about gardener and broadcaster Monty Don and his writing shed before on Shedworking. Here's a rather nice picture of him at work in it. --------------------------------------------------------

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

Cressida Cowell: Shedworker

 Cressida Cowell, the author of the hugely popular the How To Train Your Dragon books - and whose latest book The Wizards of Once has just come out - is also a shedworker. Indeed, she wrote all 12 of the Dragon books in her writing shed.

There's no internet and no telephone in her leafy London location where she told the BBC she is "buried in greenness and I can't really see the outside world". And she told the Telegraph:

My shed is so covered in roses that you can barely see out and I’m forced in on my own world, which is important. I also have a sofa to curl up on when I need inspiration. As a child I did all my homework in bed, so I think I associate a comfortable space with creativity. I have my own shed kettle too, so I can make endless cups of rooibos tea without trooping back to the house.

Here she talks us through the delights of shedworking.

The path to the writing shed today is a path of rain pic.twitter.com/BxcBEUW91y

— Cressida Cowell (@CressidaCowell) September 16, 2016

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master: garden offices and studios to fit any size garden. Top quality contemporary or traditional buildings.

How to look after the green roof on your garden office

A green roof on your shedworking spot is a lovely feature but while it's low maintenance, it's not no maintenance. Rotunda Roundhouses has a short but useful post on this very subject (feeding, clearing away debris, etc) which is well worth a quick look. Here's a timely snippet:

Sedum roof during Autumn and Winter 
Please remove all fallen leaves and twigs within 2 weeks as these can suffocate your plants. Unblock any surrounding gutters / ensure all the draining outlets are working well. Please do not feed the sedum roof during the winter.

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Love Your Hut of the Year winners announced

Specialist shed and beach hut insurers Love Your Hut have just announced the winner of their Love Your Hut of the Year 2017. Congratulations to My Hula Hut at Dovercourt Bay in Harwich, owned by Miss Baria who describes it thus:

My Hula Hut is decorated in a wonderfully playful, fun and colourful Hawaiian, Tiki, kitsch, retro, 50s style, flamingos are the main feature along with with Tiki emblems and accessories, the interior is painted in a refreshing aqua, reflecting the turquoise sea of the tropical islands.

Silver went to Little Idyll, owned by Mrs Weaver, in Chepstow, and bronze to Seas Side Zen at Lymington owned by Lynn Barnes. All three, plus the nine other runners-up, will be featured in a special Love Your Hut 2018 calendar coming soon.

A special mention to Jabba in Southwold (pictured above), owned by Mrs Ogden, which was a favourite among the Shedworking staff and this one below. You can see lots more entries at Love Your Hut's instagram page.

No.9. in our Best Hut Competition & in the 2018 Calendar is Abbie @ Felixstowe, owned by Millies Beach Huts. 👍👏👍 pic.twitter.com/xDjDC0tU0I

— Love Your Hut (@loveyourhut) September 13, 2017

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The Book of Shed

Former winner of Shed of the Year in 2014, shedbuilder Joel Bird has just published The Book of Shed. Subtitled Designing, Building and Loving Your Shed, it takes readers through the various stages of doing what it says on the tin with sections on the history of sheds, inspirational ideas, the build itself, and various case studies. You can get a feel for the contents by reading Joel on his I Am Shed site. Below is an example of his work, a yoga garden office, and Joel himself in a lovely shedworking environment.

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Garden office and homework space

This mixed-use garden office space in West London by Norwegian Log doubles up as both a shedworking area and a place specifically in which four teenagers can do their homework/revision. This is what owner Aizad Hussain says about it:

“We wanted an area for them to study, a thinking space, away from interruptions. We needed an urgent solution and we couldn’t wait to apply for planning for something like a basement. It also needed to fit with the style of the house. It just focuses the mind, you don’t want to goof around in here. Time somehow seems very slow as there are no disruptions. There’s a sense you are in a library."

Features included a decking area, bi-fold doors, air-conditioning and, er, a large TV and Playstation PS4 (for down time...).

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Mini Living Urban Cabin

The dividing line between garden offices and tiny homes is decreasing all the time, and the blur between where we work and where we live continues to grow (but in a good way). This compact micro-house from Mini Living measures 15 sqm and has been one of the hit talking points of the 2017 London Design Festival this week. According to the designers "the design is inspired by London’s rich history of geometric facades" and their goal was "to create a house with limited space that is inspired by local surroundings. The general idea behind the cabin is to help address the need to live in a constantly growing city without having to compromise on quality or a unique urban landscape". They continue:

The kitchen for example, a space where people come together and traditions thrive, has been created with London’s food markets in mind, aiming to bring their culture and diversity into the home. It has been designed with versatility in mind; the table can spontaneously be moved outside to take advantage of warmer weather.

Built by Aldworth James & Bond and designed by architect Sam Jacob it also has its own microlibrary because according to Jacob: “London is a city of books before it is a city of architecture. We created this library as an extension to domestic space that contains a certain spirit of the city. Recalling the grand libraries as well as the book-lined studies of domestic life.”

The next Urban Cabin will be unveiled in October in New York, where it will be home to various events and workshops looking at the development of the Urban Cabin into an inhabitable concept for major cities in 2018.

Photography by Tom Donald

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

Team UnLimbited: Shedworkers

The Shed of the Year competition throws up some amazing builds. It also brings some even more astonishing shed-based stories to a wider public eye. And this year, it's the story behind Team UnLimbited and the selfless work of Drew Murray and Stephen Davies, winners of the workshop and studio category.
In short, they make 3D-printed limbs for children in need across the world. The videos below explain in more detail:

Fancy crying, but for a happy reason? Look at this! https://t.co/NXK8hFnO4Z

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 21, 2017

Heroes are ordinary people that do extraordinary things. pic.twitter.com/a0VzU69KaP

— Channel 4 (@Channel4) September 19, 2017

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master: garden offices and studios to fit any size garden. Top quality contemporary or traditional buildings.

A garden office you can live in

The Nugget micro home from Modern Tiny Living is not strictly a garden office, but if you want something portable that you can work in with added extras, this is probably about as small as you would want to get (at 102 sq ft or 9.5 sq m on a 12ft trailer). Inside there's a composting toilet and 30 inch x 30 inch shower, a mini-fridge and hickory butcher block countertops. It's designed to be off-grid with a 100 gallon fresh water tank solar batteries/panels, and a propane tankless water heater. Marketed more as a "weekend getaway or travel companion", living here full time (especially without a cooker) would be tricky.

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master: garden offices and studios to fit any size garden. Top quality contemporary or traditional buildings.

Black garden office

Black is an unusual colour for a garden office but the Sportskabin range is proving popular among customers of Garden2office. "This one has a sedum roof, a store room and  triple glazing," explains Garden2office's owner Mark Ramuz. "The client imports Scandinavian crafts, so specified a stripped back interior to complete the Nordic look."

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How your garden office could earn you money

An interesting piece by eDEN Garden Rooms suggests that one way of making money from your garden room/office is simply renting it out, not for business using sites such as Vrumi or SpaceHop, but as a holiday let. Here's a snippet about the rent-a-room tax free allowance

By signing up to the rent-a-room scheme, you not only make money on your rental, but you are also eligible to earn up to £7,500 per year, tax free. Remember, before you decide to proceed that being part of the scheme means that you are not able to claim any expenses related to the letting. You should therefore make sure that you do some calculations beforehand on any possible maintenance and general upkeep that may be required, to check whether you’d be better-off financially in or out of the scheme. Before you take a lodger in, you should always check with your mortgage provider and home insurer to make sure that you are keeping within the terms of any existing contracts. If you rent, you’ll also need to check that your lease allows you to take on a lodger.

eDEN do point out that you need to think it all through carefully e.g. getting planning permission for an ‘independent separate dwelling’, ensuring you have full building regulations in place, etc.

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here

Caitlin Moran: Shedworker

Memoirist, novelist and cultural commentator Caitlin Moran is also a shedworker (you can see her garden office in the background of the photo above). Here she is talking about it in The Guardian:

I finally “invested” in an office/shed at the bottom of the garden, which is where I now spend most of my day. Before, I used to work on the patio, because of the smoking. Man, I have sat out there in some grim weathers... After a long day of work, it’s great to give my arse a break by walking from the bottom of the garden to the front room, and then sitting on the sofa until 10pm.

And this week in The Times (paywall, sorry):

Downstairs in the sweet September morning, cup of tea in hand, open the back door, head to the writing shed, everything to live for, and WHAMMO. Spider in the face. A 12ft web around the head, tea everywhere and eight arachnid eyes peevishly staring into mine, going, “I’m sorry. Did you want to use that door? It’s just I thought I’d pop a face trap over it. Because it’s spider-in-the-face season.”

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Early years school shedworking

As we frequently say on Shedworking, children need sheds too. Here's a lovely example from Rotunda Roundhouses, a 6.5m Rotunda with sedum roof that will be used at an early years school. Already christened 'Saplings', it took just seven days to get into place and Rotunda used social media to chart the build (we've put them in reverse order).

Another #Roundhouse complete! This one, "Saplings" is 6.5m diameter building with Anthracite grey windows & door and oak flooring. Lush! 😍 pic.twitter.com/NCmh2kuFA4

— Rotunda Roundhouses (@RotundaRH) September 15, 2017

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

Shed of the year 2017: The Mushroom Shed

To the online shouts of 'But that's not a shed', this year's Shed of the Year has been announced after nearly 3,000 entries and 27,000 votes - Ben Swanborough’s kind of tree house The Mushroom Shed from Surrey was awarded the prize after his young daughter gave him £500 of her own money to make a hang-out space in the shape of a mushroom.

Uncle Wilco, founder of Shed of the Year said: “The bar was set really high this year, from entire train carriages to a miniature chapel and a replica cinema. With strong contenders winning all eight category awards it was a really tough decision for me and my fellow judges. Ben’s dedication to his daughter and the quirky design details he created really stood out above the rest and he thoroughly deserves the title!”

More details and photos at Shedblog. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Is it worth getting a garden office?

Each week in The Guardian newspaper's 'Money' section, a reader asks a question and other readers respond to it to help them out. This week's is 'Is it worth getting a garden shed?' and replies will be printed in next week's issue. The full question is:

I want to spend about £25,000 on a garden office, which I’ll use for freelance work and as a place for hobbies. My wife thinks it’s a silly price for a shed that will take a chunk of the garden; I think it will add value. Do those with a studio regret it or love it?

You can let the Guardian know your thoughts at money@theguardian.com

Image: Booths Garden Studios

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Diocese of Westminster's garden office

An interesting build by The Stable Company for the Diocese of Westminster which was keen to rebuild lecture rooms at its Allen Hall Seminary in Chelsea. The work required the demolition of the former 35-year prefabs on the site and the addition of new foundations - the whole project, including putting up the buildings, took six weeks. Here's what they say about it:

The building was required to deliver flexible teaching space that could meet the needs of varied group sizes. A single storey design was created to ensure no change of outlook for the other nearby buildings and the exterior was clad in vertical and horizontal cedar weather boards, which provided a stunning, natural appearance for the garden setting.

Other features include a sliding, folding, sound-proofed partition, so that the whole building can be opened up into one large space or  kept as separate lecture rooms.

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Guide to garden rooms (infographic)

Modern Garden Rooms has put together an interesting infographic about all aspects of garden offices and other shedlike atmospheres. You can see a much bigger/readable version here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master: garden offices and studios to fit any size garden. Top quality contemporary or traditional buildings.

Roald Dahl Day: Moving the writing hut

It's Roald Dahl Day today, arguably the most famous modern shedworker, so we thought we'd take a look at how his hut was transferred from his garden at Gypsy House to the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great Missenden (if you can get along this afternoon, entrance is free).

The work was carried out by Outside Studios. Here's what they say about it:

We built a millimetre-perfect replica of the inner writing room and hinged a whole section of the structure; when the Museum is quiet, the hut can be closed for maximum, spine-tingling impact. The gallery couldn't hold the whole hut, but the 'magic' door and aquajet-cut lino patterns mark out the full area with quotes and stories... The hut’s contents were moved forensically, right down to the dirt on the floor and the tobacco-stained polystyrene wall insulation. Every photograph, paperclip and hip bone (yes, really) was carefully recorded, checked and conserved before the display was recreated in its new, museum-grade enclosure, covered with illustrated roses setting out Roald Dahl's writing process.

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here