“Yo ho, my boys,” said Fezziwig. “No more work to-night. Christmas Eve, Dick. Christmas, Ebenezer. Let’s have the shutters up,” cried old Fezziwig, with a sharp clap of his hands, “before a man can say Jack Robinson.”Shutters open again on January 3.
Last #SundayMorning @BBCRadio3 coming up. Join me in Garden Studio GS1 for some wonderful music including Debussy, Helene de Montgeroult, Morton Feldman, & seasonal treats from Sammartini, Yakiv Yatsynevych and Ella Fitzgerald.@bbcarts @BBCArtsPR @TandemProUK @BBCSounds pic.twitter.com/7RNWMSgpRc
— Sarah Walker (@drsarahwalker) December 18, 2021
Back at work or still working from home? Is a view of hte garden your new normal? See our blog on Shed Working - a "Shoffice" life could be for you! https://t.co/W4LpQUNeeQ #workingfromhome #shoffice #gardenoffice #homeofficegoals #workfromhome #homeofficesetup #shedworking pic.twitter.com/H1vzyYFmer
— The Posh Shed Co (@ThePoshShed) July 23, 2021
Sunny #shedworking -with my buddiesš¤£ almost too hot! #amwriting #sunnyScotland pic.twitter.com/TcGUiBXgpX
— Linda Strachan (@Strachanlinda) June 24, 2021
oo I love working in a shed...will be very interested to see why @Joannechocolat likes hers so much too #shedworking https://t.co/NtJ1y12mYt
— Cressida Cowell (@CressidaCowell) May 20, 2021
That’s my wood burner lit for the day! Brrrr but beautiful ☺️ #thecotswolds #shedworking pic.twitter.com/WTK5VPVqJs
— nic vickery (@nicvickerybrown) April 12, 2021
Horrendous trip to work this morning Toby and the team #shedworking @tobyfoster @BBCSheffield pic.twitter.com/wRyHCKyt2l
— Steve (@throapham1960) February 2, 2021
My office #MondayBlues #coastmagazine @coastmag #constantinebay #seascapes #shedworking #shedworkers #officeview #homeschool pic.twitter.com/i7ruPPWxi4
— Kath Hadden (@kathhaddenart) January 18, 2021
This came up again in my daily shed photos - It's a lovely space and great location - would love to do some #shedworking from this shed, whatever the weather https://t.co/2k0Axvedqm
— Andrew Wilcox I♥️sheds - Shed of the year (@unclewilco) January 5, 2021
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No proof required of course that garden offices are limited in their geographic scope. Here's another example from Germany, Raum (Room) from Tarantik & Egger who describe it as "a ready-made micro architecture made from the highest-quality wood. Harmonically blending into nature.". Features include a full-frame glass window with curtain for privacy, wooden clapboard walls (built in Austria), and a platform roof that be converted into a green roof. Size start at 3. x 3m, rising to 7m x 3m.
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A fabulous garage refurb by design and architecture firm McCloy + Muchemwa who also dealt with an existing
asbestos issue for this build in Norwich, renamed The Orangery. Lots of images of the transformation on the site via the link above and how they turned it into a greenhouse with workspace. Features include upcycled workbenches and a covered outside space. Here's what they say about it:
The black cladding finish was selected to provide a backdrop that emphasises the colours in garden and flower beds, an approach that references classical still-life paintings. The bright orange colour celebrates the dramatic and uninterrupted seven-metre span of the pergola's steel beam and is in 'complementary contrast' to the azure colour of the sky. A triangular motif reoccurs throughout the project, from the pitched roof, greenhouse structural bracing and ventilation panel, to the 'pyramid window' and even down to small details such as the shelf brackets and three-rod legs on the workbenches.
Photos by Simon Kennedy
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Still looking for a shedlike Christmas present? How about LEGO's beach hut kit (pictured above), three different possibilities in one set which includes what they describe as "a cool summer shack". Features include a cash register (?), floor lamp, radio, bottled beverages, two minifigure, and the possibility of hiring surfboards from a beachfront surf shop, all in a yellow, dark blue and white colour scheme. We've just checked and there is availability out there still though it seems to be selling fast.
Or how about this one, below, which you can vote for on the LEGO site as one for the future - it's built on a 24 x 48 stud surface and includes nine minifigs. We really like this.
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Over the years, garden office suppliers have increased the size of windows and added windows into doors to increase the amount of light into the shedlike space within. Leading interior designer Abigail Ahern has another solution, installing a Velux roof window (she explains and shows us around her work cabin in the video below). In an interesting interview with plenty of photos in Vogue, she describes how the increased daylight helps her general mood and improve the atmosphere. Here's a snippet:
“Where I work changes with the light. As the sun moves around the house, this little garden office is now the most amazing space to be in. This window has completely transformed a super gloomy, tiny space into something that’s bathed in soft daylight from above, which is beautiful.”
More details about her cabin life on her blog here, and also in an interview with the Guardian.
Image courtesy Velux
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Managing Director of metals4U, Paul McFadyen said: “There was significant investment going into home improvements throughout 2021. Depending on your shed size, height and usage requirements there are different planning permissions around building a shed, so it’s worth checking this first. Some people prefer to build metal sheds as they are sturdier and more weather resistant. We would recommend using either galvanized aluminium or mild steel that is treated with a proprietary weatherproofing product if doing so."
Of course, there are books available on exactly this subject... (and currently on a pleasant festive discount if you buy directly from the publishers Haynes).
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Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning 
Property specialists Jackson-Stops have been peering into their crystal ball to make predictions about the market for next year including a 3%+ price rise, shorter chains, and more interest in ecofriendly features, but emphaising in particular that the work from home trend is here to stay.
A whopping 91% of the company's branches believe that that home offices and fast broadband
connectivity will continue to be at the top of house hunters’ wish lists
next year, with many noting that buyers want these working facilities
to be located outside the main house in outbuildings or a garden office.
Nick Leeming, chairman of Jackson-Stops, suggested that homeworkers who remain unaffected by the reopening of their offices will now have the confidence to make a permanent move to a more rural location. “Buying a home is a long-term commitment and with lockdowns still fresh in people’s minds, house hunters are looking for properties that are more flexible, spacious and rural than where they lived pre-pandemic," he said.
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Another garden office Christmas gift idea today, one that would look ideal both inside your shedworking space and in the main home. It comes from Quality Garden Supplies who say that the new bauble follows the success of last year's greenhouse design. Features include rooftop metallic coloured light string, detailing on all sides, and snow with a glitter shimmer. Nice!
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A new issue of the always excellent The Scottish Shedder produced by the Scottish Men's Sheds Association is now available online. As always it features interviews, case studies (including a focus on Dunfermline, Livingston, Westhill and District, and Inverurie and District Men's Sheds) personal stories, and much more. You can read it online at the association's site here or you can download it as a pdf here.
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If you're looking to add a new feature to your garden office experience, you could buy a new picture for the wall, or perhaps a colourful rug. Or you could go down a different route and get a hot tub. Pictured above is an example from Hydropool Midlands, sister company to garden office/building specialist Cabinmaster. Here's what one of their customers, Max, says about his hot tub:
“Working from home can be stressful, Zoom & Teams meetings are testing my patience, when it all gets a bit much I take a dip in the hot tub. Certainly when I’d normally be taking a breather with a brew at the office I’m now having a soak. I come back really productive! I’m going to miss this when and if I have to go back to work!”
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So above as an example is the Russell Hobbs Retro Portable Beauty Cooler and Warmer. It holds a tidy 14L of stuff within its white glossy exterior, and as well as a cooler you can flick a switch and turn it into a warmer too, up to 65°C above the ambient temperature. Below is something similar, the StylPro Beauty Fridge with rose gold detail.
And finally, the Cooluli Skincare Mini Fridge, also 4L and built to be really quiet.
For more ideas, take a look at mini fridge roundups by the Daily Telegraph and BBC Good Food.
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There's an excellent interview with awardwinning writer Helen Peters, author of the Jasmine Green series and most recently A Puppy Called Sparkle, at the Reading Zone. She talks in particular about the key role that sheds played in her early life and has a marvellous answer when asked to describe her ideal writer's shed.
A: This is something I think about a lot! Whenever I visit a stately home with a beautiful summerhouse in the garden, I redecorate it in my imagination as my writing shed.
So my ideal writing shed wouldn't really be a shed at all, but a grand summerhouse with brick walls, tiled floors and a high ceiling. All along the front wall would be floor-to-ceiling French windows, and the other walls would be lined with books. I would have a big table facing the windows, and a fireplace in one wall, so I could keep cosy with a log fire in the winter.
The summerhouse would be in a garden full of flowers and fruit trees and singing birds, and all around the garden would be woods and hills. The garden would be walled on three sides, but at the front it would open out on to a lake. When I needed a break from writing, I would swim in the lake or walk in the woods and hills.
You can read the whole interview, it's quite short, via the link above.
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A couple of months ago we looked at why the prices of garden offices are more than just creeping up a little bit. Booths Garden Studios are the latest to suggest that if you're thinking seriously of buying a garden office, then you will save money by doing so sooner rather than later.
Booths are among those raising their garden studio prices, despite trying to absorb increases arising from problematic material supply as well as the simple doubling of the price of timber in the last 12 months, a 57% rise in the cost of steel (integral to the Booths build), and a 32% jump in window prices. Staff wages haven't yet gone up in a bid to keep prices down, although rising inflation will almost certainly mean that cannot last.
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Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning 
Today we have a guest post from James Taylor who wrote in to Shedworking with his experiences of looking for, buying, and having a garden office installed.
After far too long I have finally joined the world of shedworking! It's been in an extended planning phase after being diagnosed with a chronic disease in 2019. You might think a pandemic would have focused the mind but a combination of lockdowns and shortages meant a much longer stay on a makeshift shelf-desk than expected. Admittedly there was lots of indecisiveness as well and I definitely recognise some of the same deliberations as Paul.
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A festively atmospheric photo of the shed office belonging to novelist and poet Erin Bow (The Scorpion Rules, The Swan Riders) in Kitchener, Ontaria, Canada, in which she has been writing since 2015. Although the building came with the house when she bought it, Erin had it improved by former local bookstore owner and carpenter Chuck Erion, then raised it to install a decent foundation, plasterboarded the walls, then put in insulation and electrics, though no wifi.
And here's the same garden office, this time in magnoliatastic spring.
You can read more about Erin and other nearby people who have creative workspaces in a nice piece in the local Waterloo Record newspaper as well as an interview with Erin in the same newspaper here about working in there. Here's a snippet:
A rainbow arch of assorted prayer flags and multicoloured meditations hang above the entrance. Inside, there's a simple desk, a green-upholstered second-hand chair with floral-pattern cushions and a standup lamp Bow picked up at Canadian Tire. "It's kind of cosy," Bow said. Sure beats the cramped office space Bow used to rent at the far end of a pole-dancing-for-fitness studio, above a King Street coffee shop.
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And here's the view from the office...
They've also documented the whole thing in a video. It's not short, but it's well worth a watch.
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Painter Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979), younger brother of the more famous Sir Stanley, lived for many years at Tree Cottage in Upper Basildon, Berkshire. He mostly worked out in the open but in winter also painted, somewhat relectantly, in a garden room, which he called his 'little Colt studio'. It's privately owned now and there are very few pictures of it available, the best we can find is included above. Here's what he says about it in his memoirs:
‘When I entered it for the first time I hated it so much that I knocked it about, and messed it up to get it more in sympathy with my feelings for painting in odd corners, or bedrooms, indoors. The fact is I am no “studio” artist and never have been.’
Purpose-built for Gilbert in the mid-1930s, the property is Grade II listed and here's what Historic England has to say about the studio's listing:
This is a rectangular weatherboarded structure, oriented West to east with a pitched roof covered in diamond shaped felt tiles. Large windows to the south and west, the latter floor to ceiling in height, are designed to allow the maximum amount of light into the studio. Both are timber-framed with multiple lights. The studio is entered through a simple plank door in the south elevation and the interior is a single space with panelling to dado height and a wooden floor.Here is a self-portrait from 1967 painted in the Colt studio which Spencer called Activity at Tree Cottage No.2.
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As you might expect from the country's leading shepherd's hut producer, Richard Lee of Plankbridge has some very firm views about what is and what is not acceptable when describing something as a shepherd's hut. He's just posted some of his thoughts on his blog here about dimensions and the Roadman's Living Van. Here's a snippet on hut height:
Where the width and length was entirely practical the height was too – there would be no point in making a portable structure that dragged on trees as it passed down the lanes and through gateways into the fields. So most huts would be no more than 10’ / 305cm high from ground to the top of the roof curve.
The only exception to this might be the pitched roofed huts which are found around Norfolk and Suffolk, these would be higher to the ridge, at 11’ or 12’ but perhaps low branches weren’t such a thing on the flat fenlands. The windows were often simply narrow slides on a shepherd’s hut. These days our standard window opening is 63cm by 90cm, and we do doubles too. Daylight and making the best of the views is essential in a modern day hut. We also even do glazed ends in anthracite grey aluminium.
It's well worth a read, especially for the anecdote at the start...
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