How much does a garden office add to the value of your property?

No apologies for returning to this perennial question of interest to those thinking about buying or already owning a garden office. Cabin Master address the issue in a recent post, saying:

High-quality garden offices can increase a property’s value by 5%–15% according to some estate agents and property experts. For example, if your home is valued at £300,000, a garden office could add anywhere from £15,000 to £45,000. In many cases, the added value outweighs the cost of a high-quality installation, making it a smart investment.

It's short but well worth reading and they make some good points about elements such as build quality, functionality and design, location, and the property market in general. Shedworking particularly endorses these thoughts about size:

The office should feel proportionate to your garden. A compact micro office can be perfect for a small outdoor space, but an oversized structure that dominates the garden may actually reduce appeal. Balance is key.

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Monday's posts are sponsored by Smart Modular Buildings, the UK's best garden room company

 

 

Friday Finery: Hirondelle tiny house

 

 

Not technically a garden office, but still a small shedlike atmosphere in which you could work very happily, this is the appetising Hirondelle tiny house model from French firm Quadrapol with 12.1m² on two levels, and built on a galvanized steel trailer. 

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

Alan Titchmarsh's shed for sale

Gardener, television presenter, and writer Alan Titchmarsh is selling his shed. In fact, he's selling all his outbuildings at his home in Alton, Hampshire, along with his lovely Grade II listed 17th century five bedroom Manor House Farm and extensive four acres of beautiful gardens (on the market with Savills for £3.95m).

There are various shed buildings on the property including, naturally, a rather nice greenhouse and a 42ft party barn/theatre space with library, and what Savills describes as a "potting shed", though it has a kitchenette, lavatory, and shower so... Country Life magazine has a magnificient photo of Alan in his blue velvet smoking jacket in one of his sheds - do click the link for a peek. Pictured above is that library, a summerhouse, and his triangular office.

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master, bespoke garden rooms and offices designed, manufactured and installed throughout the UK

 

Renting a garden office

If for whatever reasone you want to rent a garden office rather than buy one, among those suppliers offering that option is Booths Garden Studios. You can fine more details about their scheme here, but in brief there is an installation fee and then a monthly rental fee. Mains connection and Part P certification are included, while the maximum distance they will install a rental studio is 160 miles from their workshop at NN18 8AN (e.g. all of London and down to Brighton on the south coast).

As an example, below is a video by Dianne who runs a beauty business, talking about how renting helped her:

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by Booths Garden Studios, the UK's No.1 supplier of zero maintenance and portable garden studios

 

Learn how to build a tiny house on a special course

If you're interested in learning how to build your own tiny house (and to build more sustainably into the bargain), friend of Shedworking Rik Frankland of wudl will be running a hands-on Tiny House short course at their Manchester training space. Over five days, participants will learn the key skills of sustainable construction (timber framing, insulation, cladding, windows, roofing) by building a dog kennel-sized tiny house

Places are limited to just 12 participants and no previous building experience required. Price per person is £695. More details here.

Here are some more details:

Working in small groups, you’ll use hand tools such as drill-drivers, staplers and hammers to assemble the structure step by step. You’ll fit natural insulation, membranes and tapes, install a window, fix cladding and gutters, and wire up a safe 12V lighting system. For safety reasons, all cutting of sheet and large sections will be done for you.

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Monday's posts are sponsored by Smart Modular Buildings, the UK's best garden room company

Friday Finery: L-shaped garden office

This week's Finery comes via Rooms Outdoor, the subject of the very first post on Shedworking nearly 20 years ago. It's a bespoke L-shaped building in Wimbledon with an interestingly-angled living roof, covered porch and angled window.

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

More beach huts on the way to the Isle of Sheppey

More beach huts are on their way to the Isle of Sheppey following the appointement of a contractor by Swale Borough Council.

There are currently 55 popular beach huts on the island. The 26 new ones will be located at Minster Leas (pictured above) and Leysdown and will help meet the high demand and reduce waiting times. There are just under 200 people on the waiting list at the moment. Some of the huts will be available to buy, others for both long and short-term rentals.

There will also be a community hut at Minter as part of the new project. This will be available for a range of community groups to utilise, adding to the one already in Leysdown.

Works are due to start at Leysdown in mid-September and Minister in early November.

The council is also assessing whether to install further huts at Minster Leas, but say they would consult residents and key stakeholders before adding any new ones.

“Demand continues to grow to enjoy our beautiful coast," said Councillor Monique Bonney, chair of the economy and property committee at the council. “The beach huts have always been popular, and now we will have different ways of owning or renting them, to make sure they can be enjoyed by as many people as possible. Now we’ve got the green light, we’ll get to work planning and building the huts, so people can start to spend even more enjoyable days on our fantastic beaches.”

Pic courtesy Swale Borough Council

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master, bespoke garden rooms and offices designed, manufactured and installed throughout the UK

 

Charles Dickens’ writing chalet restoration update

There are optimistic sounds coming from the campaign to restore Charles Dickens' writing chalet in Rochester which as you know has been in an increasingly poor state of repair for some time now. 

The project - a partnership between Medway Council and the Friends of Eastgate House - now has its own website where its mission statement is "to revive and reimagine Dickens’ Writing Chalet as a vibrant cultural space for the community". Here's what they say:

Alongside other key heritage sites — such as Eastgate House, the Six Poor Travellers, Restoration House and The Bull Hotel – the Chalet will become part of a compelling story about place, history and imagination. It will also serve as a platform for events and fundraising activities to secure its future use and ongoing maintenance, helping to preserve its legacy for generations to come.

Recent events over the summer have included opening the chalet to the public during August, and the presentation of a mini chalet scale model to the Annual Conference of the Dickens Fellowship. We'll keep you posted on further updates on this extremely worthy scheme.

Image courtesy Rye Design

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by Booths Garden Studios, the UK's No.1 supplier of zero maintenance and portable garden studios

 

Cognito's wins Pub Shed of the Year competition

Wolverhampton Wanderers fan Glen Gandy from Willenhall has won the fifth Pub Shed of the Year competition run by Two Fat Blokes Bar Signs and and Ngage Radio.

His pubshed Cognito's cost him around £20,000 to build and took him two years. Features include a DJ booth, hot tub, jukebox and Space Invaders machine, Wolves tops around the walls, a large television, and fridge stocked with beer, as well as a beer garden with barbecue seating area and shower room. The name is a tribute to his late friend and comedian Ian Cognito.
 
The other finalists were The Cattle Shed in Walsall, pictured below and created by West Bromich Albion fan Kev Cattell (coincidentally a friend of Glen's), and the BrennInn in Burnley by Chris Brennan.
 
Glen wins a range of personalised items for his pub shed, including beer mats and a bar sign.

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Monday's posts are sponsored by Smart Modular Buildings, the UK's best garden room company

 

Friday Finery: Catherine Clarke's beach hut

Historian and friend of Shedworking Catherine Clarke often posts about her Dorset beach hut on Instagram and BlueSky, a much loved long term lease from the council. She also works in it from time to time, including on her excellent new book A History of England in 25 Poems which is out next week.

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

Garden office case study virtual tour

We obviously like to feature case studies of garden office builds on Shedworking but this is something new to us, a case study virtual tour. In this case it's of a shed and office space (shoffice) from Cosy Garden Rooms in Melbourne, Derbyshire, for the Findon family, a multipurpose space replacing a summerhouse which was getting a bit long in the tooth.

The build itself is a 6m x 3m garden room on a concrete base with an internal partition wall to create a storage area, clad with composite slat cedar cladding and Hardie board composite, with s Anthracite UPVC doors and windows, 3m-wide double sliding patio doors, a full-height corner window, and a 300mm overhang along the front and right-hand side of the building.

Click the link to have a play with the virtual tour thingy.

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master, bespoke garden rooms and offices designed, manufactured and installed throughout the UK

David Gilmour loses shed planning battle

Pink Floyed guitarist David Gilmour has been ordered by Camden Council in London to take down a newly-built shed after a planning row with neighbours.
 
Pictured above are the summerhouse and sheds that previously stood on the footprint before the musician had them removed and replaced with a new shed build 2.5m x 1.9m x 2.9m. However, Hampstead Hill Gardens Residents’ Association called for his retrospective planning application to be refused with neighbours complaining that it was “overbearing” and “intrusive” and not built on the original shed footprint.

The council has now demanded that the existing structure be moved and rebuilt further away from the back fence.

Back in 2011, Gilmour was told by the council to pull down a yellow beach hut at his £3m seafront mansion in East Sussex which he used to house his bicycles as it was an "eyesore" in the Hove conservation area (though it looked fine to the Shedworking staff).

Photo credit: Whiteacre Planning Ltd/Camden council 

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by Booths Garden Studios, the UK's No.1 supplier of zero maintenance and portable garden studios

 

Aerial view of Dylan Thomas' writing shed (video)

You don't often see aerial shots of garden offices and this is a particularly interesting one to focus on, Dylan Thomas' writing shed in Wales which has famously fabulous views.

 

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Monday's posts are sponsored by Smart Modular Buildings, the UK's best garden room company

 

Friday Finery: Curved garden office

Today's Finery is this beautifully rounded build from the appropriately named Curve Garden Rooms. incorporating its curved fibreglass insulated roof design.

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

 

 

Garden office construction timeline guide

There's a brief but useful guide for those considering going down the shedworking route about how long it takes to get your garden office set up on the Smart Modular Buildings blog. Here's a snippet:

• Design & Consultation: one to two weeks for layout, approvals, and finalising options
• Groundworks: one to three days depending on site conditions
• Construction: one to two weeks for prefabs, up to three to four weeks for bespoke builds
• Final Touches: two to five days for electrics, painting, flooring, etc
  

You can read the rest of it here.

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master, bespoke garden rooms and offices designed, manufactured and installed throughout the UK

Garden office with kitchen and bathroom

A hugely impressive recent build from InFrame Garden Rooms in Ham, Surrey, a 24sqm garden office designed for a client who works from home and wanted a dedicated, self-contained workspace. It’s a single open-plan room fully kitted out with two sets of panoramic aluminium bifolds (a 5-leaf and a 3-leaf) opening onto the garden from adjacent sides, and a small kitchenette for making tea and coffee, plus a lavatory and shower room.

The idea was to create a professional space that feels completely separate from the main house which is ideal for welcoming the client's personal assistatn without the need to come inside the main home.

The structure is built on a steel core frame with screw pile foundations and finished in Millboard cladding.

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by Booths Garden Studios, the UK's No.1 supplier of zero maintenance and portable garden studios

Tiger launches new garden building show site at Tong Garden Centre

Woodlands Home & Garden Group has launched its latest Tiger garden building show site at Tong Garden Centre, near Bradford, marking the 18th location in the retailer’s growing national network (double the number it had at the start of 2025).

The new display site is the fourth Tiger outlet in Yorkshire, and features selection of premium garden buildings on display, including sheds, summerhouses, and log cabins, including the new 70mm Obsidian insulated log cabin with extra thick timber walls and insulated roof and floor. Stuart Davison, Commercial Director at Woodlands said:
 "As a Yorkshire company through and through, this is a fantastic moment for us and for customers across the region."

The new site at Tong Garden Centre, Tong Ln, Bradford BD4 0RY, is open 10.30am - 3pm Monday to Saturday, and 11am - 3pm on Sundays. Tiger has also launched a virtual showroom at https://www.tigersheds.com/modular/showroom/

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Monday's posts are sponsored by Smart Modular Buildings, the UK's best garden room company

 

Shedworking holidays

In an unusual fit of humanity, we've given the interns a few days off so Shedworking HQ will be a bit quiet over the next few days while we enjoy some annual leave.

The Philosophy of Sheds

An item of good news. It's been a while since I've written a book about sheds (Haynes Shed Manual, co-authored with John Coupe in 2019), and even longer than my first one on the subject (Shedworking: The Alternative Workplace Revolution, 2010), so I'm delighted to announced that in 2026 the trilogy will be complete with The Philosophy of Sheds.

It will be published by the British Library in spring next year as part of its Philosophy of... series, what it describes as "a thought-provoking range of books which take a deep dive into niche topics" and features subjects such as curry, puddings, cider, cheese, tatoos, beards, and Christmas. "With their gorgeous colourful covers," continues the British Library, "the titles are great for gifting, or those curious to learn more." I hope you'll enjoy it.  

Beach hut prices jump by up to 100% in some locations

Research by Regency Living suggests that the average price of a beach hut has soared by as much as 100% in some seaside towns in recent years. 

According to their figures, in West Sussex,the going rate for a beach hut currently stands at £33,044. This marks an increase of 102.1% over three years. Meanwhile, in Dorset the average beach hut price is £102,451 having increased by 66.3% since 2022. In Essex, the price tag is £45,878, followed by Kent (£43,661), Hampshire (£32,655), and East Sussex (£30,784).

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Monday's posts are sponsored by Smart Modular Buildings, the UK's best garden room company

Friday Finery: garden office garden

This week's Finery focuses on the rather lovely flowerbed outside a Cabinmaster garden office, what must be a beautiful thing to see when looking up from your desk.

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

 

Garden office for sale at Fanny Craddock's and Frederick Delius's former home

This garden office in a fine location is in the grounds of The Dower House, a property near Watford which was previously owned by composer Frederick 'On Hearing the First Cuckoo of Spring' Delius, and Fanny Craddock, who presented her television cookery programmes from the kitchen inside the house. On with Knight Frank and Savills for £4,500,000, which includes the seven bedroom, Grade II listed house, which has river and mill stream frontage.

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by Booths Garden Studios, the UK's No.1 supplier of zero maintenance and portable garden studios