Sunday, July 31, 2022

Virginia Woolf's garden office in Rooms of Their Own

A genuinely iconic garden office, the place where novelist Virginia Woolf wrote, as illustrated by James Oses in my latest book Rooms of Their Own. Here's a snippet from her section in the book:

Woolf’s friend Lytton Strachey complained that she surrounded herself with ‘filth packets’ as she wrote, cigarette ends, pen nibs, and various bits of paper. Over her lifetime she also had several tables/desks at which she wrote, including one standing desk. Annie Liebovitz photographed the top of her table in the writing lodge for her book Pilgrimage and this clearly shows the surface is scarred with plenty of mug rings and spilt ink. 

Through the window Woolf had views towards the Sussex Downs and Mount Caburn. The lodge also had a brick seating area in front of it on which she and friends and family would sit and watch games of bowls on the lawn in front of it and the Sussex Downs as a backdrop. During the Battle of Britain in the second world war, the German planes flew low enough over their home that they could make out the swastikas. “Bombs shook the window of my lodge,” she wrote, another echo of A Room of One’s Own, which also discusses women living in dangerous surroundings. Virginia wrote mainly in the mornings and it was here that she produced Mrs Dalloway, The Waves, and Between the Acts. 

Leonard describes her walking out to work at the writing lodge “with the regularity of a stockbroker”. In a letter to her inspirational lover Vita Sackville-West, she describes this commute: “I wake filled with a tremulous yet steady rapture, carry my pitcher full of lucid and deep water across the garden.” And it another letter, to her friend Ethel Smyth, in September 1930 she writes: “[I] shall smell a red rose; shall gently surge across the lawn (I move as if I carried a basket of eggs on my head) light a cigarette, take my writing board on my knee; and let myself down, like a diver, very cautiously into the last sentence I wrote yesterday.” 

Leonard also points out that his wife maintained a strict schedule. “We should have felt it to be not merely wrong but unpleasant not to work every morning for seven days a week and for about eleven months of the year,” he wrote. “Every morning, therefore, at about 9.30 after breakfast, each of us, as if moved by a law of unquestioned nature, went off and worked until lunch at 1.” On warm days in the summer, she would also sleep there.

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Saturday, July 30, 2022

Interior designers' own garden offices

A very interesting article on the Waltons blog focuses on the garden offices of professional interior designers Joanna Thornhill (pictured above) and Annie Golledge who both offer some top tips in terms of making the most of your shedlike space. Here's a snippet:

However, if you do have a large enough garden office, Joanna suggests that adding a ‘break out’ area is a good way to help to focus your thoughts and inspire you throughout the day. She says: “incorporate an area away from your desk to sit and take notes, brainstorm or simply sit and meditate for five minutes if you find the day getting on top of you.”

Joanna, who works from her own 3.5x2.5m garden log cabin, added a small sofa and coffee table to create a ‘breakout zone’ that overlooks her garden. Along with copious plants, swatches of bright fabrics and personal decorative accessories, her workplace feels like a fun extension of her home.

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Welcome to your new teak garden room from Moonalabs. Unparalleled quality at an affordable price.

 

Friday, July 29, 2022

Ruby’s Teeny Tiny House

A splendid small build by Mark Burton from Tiny House UK and Custom Built Surrey. The proud owner is six-year-old Ruby and her mother Charley explains why this is the perfect space for her:

My daughter Ruby has autism and since she was a toddler she has often sought to escape from any noise and intensity that might surround her, to the small and secluded spaces where she is able to hide away and take refuge. After years of making herself comfortable behind chairs and sofas, or under duvets, she finally has a beautiful, safe and quiet space to call her own. 

Her Teeny Tiny House, designed and crafted by Tiny House Cabins is the perfect sanctuary for Ruby. Here she can hide away from the day to day noises, in quiet and contentment. The windows and door allow me to see into her own little world from the outside, whilst she enjoys her down time from the rest of the world.

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Thursday, July 28, 2022

Victorian travelling photographer’s studio up for auction

This marvellous mobile garden office used as a photographic studio and well over 100 years old is coming up for auction next month on August 5 at Charterhouse Auctions in Sherborne, Dorset.

The studio has been located on the Dorset coast at Swanage for many years and most recently in a field near Wareham. It was commissioned by the father and son photographers John and Walter Pouncy from Dorchester. They and subsequent professional photographers took innumerable photos in the studio of seaside holidaymakers visiting Swanage. It has previously had some restoration work done but needs additional conservation work.

It's expected to make £8,000-£12,000. 

Pictured below is a more recent shot of it in use as a photographer's studio, and below being pulled by horses further back in time.


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Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Why Commute garden office scoops gold medal at RHS Tatton Flower Show



Large congratulations to garden designer Pip Probert, one of the stars of the BBC series Your Garden Made Perfect, who has won a coveted Gold Medal at RHS Tatton Flower Show for her garden called 'Why Commute?'. The design has a suburban setting with the garden office and its additional storage area as the central elements. Features include a sedum roof and the building is separated from the out of sight house using a metal pergola and a raised planter. Here's what Pip says about it: 

"With more people now working from home, beautiful spaces that can be used to both work in and spend time with the family are key. Cercis are positioned to the left of the plot, chosen for their airy canopy and to give a good shape and coverage towards the boundary. Hydrangeas with their large, colourful leaves are positioned at the front face to add interest and allow surrounding plants to stand out."

And here's a video of the garden office at the show with Mariachi band Beato Burrito performing outside, as often happens to shedworkers.

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Wednesday’s posts are sponsored by Norwegian Log Buildings  - Log cabins and garden buildings for a better quality of life. Click here for more details.

 

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

How to personalise your garden office

Even if you're not hugely interested in interior decoration or architecture, you'll almost certainly still want to make your garden office as personally comfortable as possible according to your own particular wants. eDEN Garden Rooms has a good article about some things to think about when planning just this. It looks at dimensions/layout, glazing, external finish, air conditioning, and more. Here's a snippet about partition walls/extra rooms:

You may have a garden room in mind for a very specific use, such as for work, or it may be intended as more of a multi-functional space. Many customers also have storage in mind, particularly when a garden room is replacing an old shed, so an integrated shed store is a hugely popular feature to create an aesthetically-pleasing storage solution, with just a keyhole in the cedar cladding giving away its hidden location.

 

Monday, July 25, 2022

UK Men's Sheds Association looking for new chair

One of the best jobs in the world of sheds could be yours. The Board of Trustees of the UK Men's Sheds Association is looking for a new chair to lead the organisation and help set its vision and strategic direction including partnering with other organisations to promote its aimes. More details and how to apply here, but here's a snippet about the state of play:

UKMSA’s mission is to enable access to a Shed for every man who wants it. We have ambitious plans to support this development of hundreds more Sheds over the next 3-5 years. Earlier this year we launched the Charter for Wellbeing in Craft and DIY at the Palace of Westminster and it has been a fantastic platform on which to further partnerships across both the industry and healthcare spaces. This is, in short, an exciting time for UKMSA but also the circumstances of the economy and pandemic have set even greater need on the work we do. We are taking this challenge to heart and embracing the opportunity... As an increasingly influential voice in the arena of men’s health and wellbeing, UKMSA is championing the growth of ‘Shedding’ across the UK and partnering with a range of organisations to promote and support its aims.

Closing date for applications is August 31.

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Sunday, July 24, 2022

Elly Griffiths: shedworker

Brighton-based bestselling crime novelist Elly Griffiths - author of the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries, the Brighton Mysteries, and the Justice Series - writes from her own garden office. Here's how she describes her writing space in an interview with the i newspaper:

It’s a shed in the garden, just big enough for a desk, chair and bookcase. There is also a painting of the Norfolk coast and a spider plant called Sir Gawain. I used to share the shed with my cat, Gus, but sadly he died a few months ago, aged 18. A neighbour’s cat has taken to miaowing at the door but I’m not sure whether to let him in. It still feels like Gus’s space.

And in an article for Crime Reads she explains how it helped during the first 2020 lockdown:

Every day I walked through the garden to my writing shed and felt very lucky to have a job to do and a fictional world to escape to.
You can hear her talking about her work and, from about the 5:30 mark, what her garden office is like in this podcast interview below with the Cambridge Creative Writing Centre, Inside The Writing Shed.

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Saturday, July 23, 2022

BBQ cabin with extension for treatment room

 

An interesting use for this 17m² BBQ Cabin with an extension from Arctic Cabins for a couple running a day spa business. Built on what was previously a concrete car park, it is used as a changing and treatment room for the spa, separate from their home, but also as a family relaxation zone in the winter (as well as somewhere to barbecue outside summer months). Features include Karndean flooring fitted throughout to make it easier to clean between client visits, and lights fitted under the seats. 

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Welcome to your new teak garden room from Moonalabs. Unparalleled quality at an affordable price.

 

Friday, July 22, 2022

Garden office garden wins RHS Tatton Park award

This rather splendid garden office by WOHOBO Garden Studios is the centrepiece in The Working From Home Garden designed by 26-year-old Will Scholey at the RHS Flower Show Tatton Park this week. Designed specifically for post-pandemic homeworking, it has now scooped Will the prestigious RHS Young Designer Award. The garden features naturalistic planting to offer an inspiring working environment, but interestingly uses materials more commonly seen on a work commute but reimagined in a garden setting such as large reclaimed granite kerbstones. 

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

 

Thursday, July 21, 2022

Working from home: latest UK data

The latest report from the Economics Observatory about working from home post-pandemic indicates that working from home is here to stay, with clear benefits for many people, in particular less time spent commuting. According to the report's author, senior research associate Charlie Meyrick from the University of Brisol: "Should current trends continue, it seems unlikely that we will ever return fully to pre-pandemic work patterns. Compared with before the pandemic, there are now over five million more people working remotely in the UK. This is roughly the equivalent of the entire working population of Austria."

The figures show the largest growth in homeworking has been in Scotland where it has doubled (see graph top). In England, the highest percentage of people working from home lived in London, followed by the South East, and then the East. The lowest increases were in the North East, and Yorkshire/Humber.

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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.

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Garden office air conditioning

It's heating rather than air conditioning that tends to generate the most queries when it comes to garden offices, but anybody who's been working in one over the last couple of days will be wondering if it's an addition to consider.

Here, below, is a video from Alex Booth from Booth's Garden Studios on exactly this subject.

"If you can afford an air conditioner for your garden office they really are a treat," says Ian Wetherell from Booths. "You are cool in the summer, and perfectly warm in the winter. In this video Alex shows how well they work when the temperature outside is 37 degrees. Although expensive initially, they use about a quarter of the electricity of a normal electric heater when running. It's recommended that you set a temperature so that once that temperature is reached, the AC will just "tick over" to maintain that perfect temperature. That's how they use less power."


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Wednesday’s posts are sponsored by Norwegian Log Buildings  - Log cabins and garden buildings for a better quality of life. Click here for more details.

 

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Hot garden offices

 

A quick survey of people's hot garden offices yesterday. It could be worse today. Be safe out there in the garden folks.


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Monday, July 18, 2022

Scandi Rustic studio style

An interesting and cooling post for this very hot day at sofa.com by Rebecca Moss, author of Scandi Rustic about her extremely attractive garden studio. Here's a snippet:

I love all things Scandinavian but also very influenced by modern Australian design which is simple and pared back with great use of materials. The room definitely follows the Scandi Rustic principles mixing a neutral back drop with textured items such as jute rug, chunky wooden bowls and metallic lighting! Ultimately, I wanted to it feel as light and bright as possible as it is north facing and the neutral shades I chose really help it feel spacious.

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Saturday, July 16, 2022

UK Mens Sheds Podcast

If you've not come across it before, then have a think about listening in to the excellent UK Men's Sheds Association podcast which has been going for nearly three years. Regular readers will know all about the organisation's marvellous work in raising awareness of Men's Sheds and the life changing impact they can have. Below is the talk given by Sir David Spiegelhalther as the keynote speaker at the recent annual gathering, Shedfest 2022 at the University of Worcester Arena last month.

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Welcome to your new teak garden room from Moonalabs. Unparalleled quality at an affordable price.

 

 

Friday, July 15, 2022

Horatio's Garden

A heartwarming story for Friday. Pictured above is Malvern Garden Buildings' part office, part shed Holt Apex model in Horatio's Garden, Cardiff, at The Welsh Spinal Cord Injury and Neuro Rehabilitation Centre, University Hospital Llandough, part of a growing number of fully accessible gardens in NHS spinal injury centres in the UK. You can read the full story here, but essentially it's an admin office for Head Gardener Owen Griffiths, plus a great storage space for tools and equipment used by the vital volunteers team. 

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

 

Thursday, July 14, 2022

Large log cabin garden office for sale

If you're looking relocate to mid-Norfolk here's a great log cabin garden office in North Pickenham near Swaffham, on the market with Longsons. Features include a main room with double-glazed French doors a second room with double-glazed windows, air conditioning unit, power, lighting and CAT 5 cabling, plus integral covered area at the side with electrics for hot tub (pictured). There's also an additional wooden garden shed with electric light and power. It all comes with a three bedroom semi-detached house  in a cul-de-sac. Offers in the region of £240,000. You can see the garden office in the video below. 

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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.

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Garden studio garage conversion

 The fashion for converting garages into garden offices in the UK seems to have died down over the last couple of years, but here's a fine example from Seattle-based Crescent Builds who have turned a run-down garage into this lovely garden studio, complete with polished original concrete floor. Here's what they say about it:

"The young family of three was looking to create a comfortable space they could enjoy year-round while maintaining the storage capabilities of their previous garage. Skylights and an expansive Nana-Wall corner unit add both an abundance of light and create a new level of connectivity to the backyard. The simple cabinetry has been thoughtfully designed to hold specific tools, creating a balance between utility and design."

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Wednesday’s posts are sponsored by Norwegian Log Buildings  - Log cabins and garden buildings for a better quality of life. Click here for more details.

 

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Ecoeasi Build from Eco Plastic Wood

Although most garden offices are timber-based, there are alternatives. Eco Plastic Wood produce a range of products using exactly what it says on the tin, but now they have taken the intriguing step of using fencing materials from uPVC specialists Liniar to create bespoke garden offices and rooms. They claim that the result is sustainable, energy efficient, and low maintenance.

The prototype is pictured above and the first example, which they're calling the Ecoeasi Build room, is below, and comes with additional steel reinforcement to keep them structurally sound. According to the company, they can be built to virtually any shape/size, and swiftly, which could be useful if you have an unusual space to fit your garden office into. They are self-build and available in a choice of colours with woodgrain options. You can see an example at Bentley’s Garden Buildings in Leicestershire.  

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Monday, July 11, 2022

Book the writing hut at the Poetry Pharmacy's Physic Garden

We're big fans of the new writing hut at the Poetry Pharmacy's Physic Garden in Bishop's Castle run by poet Deborah Alma. We reported last month about how it had hit a crowdfunding target and were delighted to see early images of what it looks like inside. If you also like the look of it, you can now book a slot in the hut (the Physic Garden if only open by appointment) - as well as the space to write, it also has supplies to make your own herbal infusion as well as a lovely view across the garden and the rooftops of the town. And it's free (although donations are of course always welcome and help keen the garden looking shipshape).

And here's what it looks like from outside.

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