The Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society's garden office in the Idler magazine

My latest garden office shed column in the new Idler magazine features an interview with Dinah Johnson (no relation) who runs The Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society which now brings together nearly 1,500 members from 36 countries from her B&Q summerhouse. Here's a snippet:

“It faces north and is painted a ‘medium oak colour and has recently been re-roofed and clad because it was starting to rot quite badly. We’d discussed replacing it and maybe getting a slightly bigger one to store the growing collection of letters, but it would’ve been like selling a friend,” she says.

 

“The door-hinge still needs mending and the gutters putting up but hopefully if not completely airtight it’s much improved. I love the front with the two doors and the eight little windows and the angle of the roof. I love the position of my writing desk tucked just round the corner by the windows so I can watch the garden goings on, like a blackbird washing in the birdbath and the gradual changing of the seasons, when I look up from my bureau. I’m not too keen on the fusty shed smell it leaves on me but that has a charm all of its own and will certainly bring back memories of me “up the shed” in years to come for the kids. I love all the postal paraphernalia I’ve managed to cram into it including an ever growing postbox shrine.”

You can read the rest in the issue with the cover below, available from all over the place including Waterstones, but best enjoyed via a subscription.

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