An interesting concept from Fermob Contract, a variation on shedworking which doesn't actually require a garden office. Instead the concentration is simply on working outdoors without walls, shared open-air offices which they say create "spaces that are welcoming, favouring discussions and sharing between employees". To this end, they offer a range of modular tables and desks suited to outdoor work stations.
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Decking is one of the most popular add-on elements of a garden office build. Here's an example of a particularly complex one over several levels as part of a Booths Garden Office QC6 garden studio erected on a steep slope, put together by the company's regular collaborator Well Decked Out.
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One of the most popular children's books in the last 100 years was written in a shedlike atmosphere. In his autobiography What Luck!, AA Milne discusses how When We Were Very Young was written during a wet holiday in North Wales in 1923 with another family and various other invitees:
"It rained continuously... In a week I was screaming with agoraphobia. Somehow I must escape. I pleaded urgent inspiration, took a pencil and an exercise book, and escaped to the summerhouse. It contained a chair and a table. I sat down on the chair, put my exercise book on the table, and gazed ecstatically at a wall of mist which might have been hiding Snowdon or the Serpentine for all I could see or cared."
Milne says he had a "fixed determination not to leave the heavenly solitude of that summerhouse until it stopped raining" during which time he focused on writing poems which had been commissioned by a friend for a magazine back in London.
"I had eleven wet days in that summerhouse and wrote eleven sets of verses," he wrote, and then they returned to London, he kept on writing, and by the end of the year he'd produced enough for the book. Sadly, the Shedworking interns have been unable to track down an image of the summerhouse.
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Adding their own thoughts to this often-asked about issue is Farnell Clarke in a useful piece on their website. They look at a range of issues from corporation tax allowances on the construction of a garden office and reclaiming VAT on the cost of a garden office to 'What if I close my Limited Company?'. Here's a snippit:
If/when you choose to perhaps close your limited company, and it owns the garden office which you will be keeping, you will need to purchase it from your company. It will need to be bought at the market value at that point (remember if your company is VAT registered to consider this for the sale too). It is often a good idea to have a restoration clause at the end of the contract.
It's well worth a read via the link above.
Image courtesy Garden Spaces
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Retired nurse Kath Ryan - known as the Cake Lady - has been baking cakes for thousands of injured servicemen and servicewomen in Birmingham since 2009 as part of her Cakes 4 Casulaties charity. Featured a couple of years ago on ITV's Love Your Garden with Alan Titchmarsh, she bakes from a 12ft x 8ft Studio Apex model from Malvern Garden Buildings.
The main feature is a fully equipped kitchen used by Kath not only to produce her tasty goodies, host tea parties and run Mental Health Days, but also to teach veterans to bake cakes. Here she is on her garden office space: “Before when one of my boys dropped in to say “hi” we had to resort to having cups of tea and slices of cake sat in the car parked on the drive. It’s so much more than I would ever have imagined or expected now I have a lovely garden and outdoor room we can sit in whatever the weather."
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There's an excellent look at maintaining the appearance of your garden office (one of the most important elements in how much it adds to the value of your property according to estate agents) at protective coatings specialist Owatrol. It runs throught steps with Roger of R & A Pressure Washing about how to go about bringing your exterior back to its finest condition. Well worth clicking the link above if you'd like to give your own garden office an overhaul.
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Anthony Hodson's Dzome is enjoying plenty of publicity following its appearance on George Clarke's Amazing Spaces programme on Channel 4. For those of you who missed it, the dome-ishly rounded garden office space is inspired by nature with a Fibonacci vibe, built from geometrically-precise galvanised steel sections. The plywood interior benefits from a skylight. Fewer than a dozen models will be available to buy this year.
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An interesting new model from SMART, a no-maintenance build called FORGE. There is no timber anywhere, and instead there is a recylcable steel frame and composite style eco-friendly Kerracore cladding which have a wood-like texture. It comes in three sizes with nine colour options for the outside Artefoam panels, aluminium doors and windows, and an exterior light, plus slimline radiator and all the usual insulation.
The big selling point is that it is resistant to rot, scratches, and fading, plus does not need repainting, but another big plus is that it comes with a green roof option (on top of which SMART is offsetting the carbon footprint of delivery and installation so the whole process is Net Zero).
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We've covered this wonderful partnership betwen Men's Sheds Cymru and Swansea City Opera several times on Shedworking, but if you've unaccountably missed it, here's the blurb:
Moving, uplifting, and funny, Shoulder to Shoulder tells the real-life stories of men overcoming loneliness and social isolation. A top-flight ensemble of singers and musicians bring stories to life on stage this October. Shoulder to Shoulder is produced in partnership with Men’s Sheds Cymru.
Libretto by Brendan Wheatley, score by Lenny Sayers, Shoulder to Shoulder toured half a dozen venues in Wales in November last year and they're now looking into a 2023 tour so do look out for more information. Here's a clip to get you in the mood:
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Interesting new research from the What Works Centre for Wellbeing ("an independent collaborating centre that develops and shares robust and accessible wellbeing evidence to improve decision-making" it says on the tin).
The study - 'Subjective wellbeing in different occupations in UK 2012-20221' - analysed UK data 2012-2022 to explore how wellbeing varies between occupations, the effect of salary on wellbeing, and the effects of the pandemic. Unsurprisingly it found a positive relationship between annual salary and ife satisfaction, and that people register higher life satisfaction and lower anxiety levels when their job is permanent, regardless of occupation type.
Most releavant for shedworkers is that Dr Simona Tenaglia, senior analyst at the What Works Centre for Wellbeing and the author of the study, says: "The highest levels of life satisfaction are present for
those who work at the same grounds or building as home, followed by those who work in
their own homes. If we look at life satisfaction by places where work is mainly carried out
and by occupations, the highest values for all occupations are those for work carried out
in the same ground or building as home."
Image courtesy Malvern Garden Buildings
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There are several winter offers going on at the moment by garden office suppliers. Our eye was caught by this one from SMART, 5% off their ULTRA models all this month. Lasts until the end of February so if you're in the market to start shedworking, this is definitely one to look into. Click the link for full information.
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Sliding doors have become increasingly popular in houses where a kitchen/dining room leads out into the back garden area. But now they're also flavour of the month when it comes to garden offices. There's an excellent selection of examples at the Keller Minimal Windows site. Here's a snippet of what they have to say on the subject:
The ultra-slim 21mm sightlines embraces far reaching views of the gardens connecting the building to nature. Concealed slick base tracks provide seamless transitions to the outdoors with flush threshold detailing. Sliding the doors open creates an immersive experience and flexible space. High security slim sliding glass doors also provide sound insulation up to 39dB while working or having a meeting to keep you focus. The slim sliding glass doors have 1.1 W/(m²K) thermal performance to keep the internal spaces in the best temperature level anytime.
Well worth a browse.
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Here's a Garden Affairs 4.2m x 2.4m Prima model in use as a permanent space for her hypnotherapy practice in Corsham. It's a two-room garden to sit at the back of the garden, with separate access is available for clients of Vicky who runs the business. It's a solid timber building, finished with 44mm thick walls, roof and floor insulation, durable EPDM rubber roof, a lavatory, with internal access and full-length narrow, vented windows. Here's what Vicky says about it:
"Before the garden room, I practised my hypnotherapy in my living room and online. I also used to travel to my client’s houses. It wasn’t ideal in the living room as I had photos of the children in there and I had to keep tidying the house every time I saw a client! I do still sometimes see clients online as this works well, but now I’ll be able to conduct the online sessions in the garden room.
"I loved the idea of a garden room as it meant that I would have a confidential space separate from the house to see clients. As I have two children it was essential to separate my business from the house and for providing a more professional space for clients. I wanted to have somewhere where I had access to it all week. I had looked into renting a space in town but there wasn’t much availability and the rooms I did find were expensive. Renting a therapy room also meant that I would need to have allotted time to see clients, which is tricky when just starting up a business and not knowing when clients would be available or how much demand there would be. By having my own space in the garden room, I can offer more flexibility in terms of times and days, and even see clients after school hours as they won’t need to come in the house.
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"I also liked the idea that when I wasn’t using the garden room for hypnotherapy, it could still be enjoyed by my family and friends. It’s a nice quiet space where any of us can relax when we need some time alone, or in the summer we can open up the doors and enjoy socialising in it with friends and family. We also felt that it will add value to our house in the future if we did ever sell, and it could even serve as an extra bedroom if we had friends or family staying over and couldn’t all fit in the house." "The garden room is therefore a key selling point for my hypnotherapy business, as it’s so cosy, inviting, and warm and clients can be put at ease knowing that it’s a confidential and safe space. They can use my back gate to enter so they don’t need to come near my house, and I’ve put up blinds and curtains so no one can see in. I even had a toilet and sink fitted, so clients don’t need to worry about that either! "I think the other main benefit is the flexibility it affords me. I can be flexible about when I see clients which is great and allows me to see a larger range of people. I even let my husband use it sometimes as he works from home a lot! And when I’m not using it, my children enjoy relaxing in here with a book or doing their homework in peace.
"I love how peaceful, cosy, comfortable and relaxing it is. I love being able to provide such a warm and friendly environment for my clients which is all part of the experience, and I love that I’m not answerable to other people in terms of planning ahead and having to book a space in town."
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Another entry in the Friday Finery folder, this time chosen to coincide with our recent increased coverage of glasshouses/greenhouses as potential garden office spaces. It's the Kew Summerhouse from Malvern Garden Buildings, the design of which is a homage to botanist and former director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, Joseph Hooker. This octagonal model, made from our old friend Western Red Cedar, is inspired by the Temperate House at Kew and features floor-to-ceiling Georgian-style windows and double doors.
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The steady rise in pub shed numbers was turbocharged by the lockdowns and they're very much flavour of the year. For those of you who haven't yet got your own back garden pub, Great British Chefs is running a competition in collaboration with snacks specialist Serious Pig, beermakers Thornbridge Brewery and Power Sheds to give one lucky winner a fully-stocked pub shed worth more than £,1790.
The prizewinner gets a Power Pub Shed, 12 cases of of Thornbridge beer, 144 Serious Pig snacks, six Thornbridge glasses and various bits and bobs of Thornbridge merchandise including beer mats. To enter (it's very easy) go here.
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Poet Laureate Simon Armitage's excellent BBC Radio 4 series The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed returns this week. The first invitee, on Sunday, is actor Sir Ian McKellen and later episodes feature comedian Lucy Beaumont and poet Pam Ayres. You can hear a preview of the series here.
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