Monday, February 17, 2025

Cabin Crew

A fascinating new book from The Modernist, Cabin Crew focuses on the work of awardwinning Welsh modernist architects Hird & Brooks who specialised in Scandinavian-styled homes but also in beautifully designed holiday cabins deep in the countryside of Wales and Scotland which took inspiration from their trips to Denmark where they took several study trips to examine the national summerhouse architecture.

Plenty of these cabins remain in situ and a few are even still available to rent. The book looks at the main players in the firm, using its archive of images, letters, and brochures to tell the story, and also includes plenty of photos of what the cabins look like today in Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, and Argyll. It also looks at other impressive holiday cabin's such as Le Corbusier's. 

It's written by writer and photographer Peter Halliday, archaeologist and teacher Bethan Dalton (who owns two Hird & Books cabins), graphic designer Lizzie Biggs, and London gallery exhibitions assistant Jessica Halliday.

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Monday posts are sponsored by Cosy Garden Rooms, the UK's No. 1 bespoke garden room designer and builder.


Friday, February 14, 2025

Friday Finery: Lawrence Dallaglio's garden studio pod


Former England rugby star Lawrence Dallaglio and his wife Alice are selling their four bedroom house in Richmond, London, which features this rather attractive garden studio in the back garden designed by the Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winner Diarmuid Gavin which is being used for ceramic work. On with Knight Frank and Savills, a snip at £3 million.

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

Thursday, February 13, 2025

Turn on the lights in your garden office from your home

A nifty little thing this from Booths Garden Studios, a light switch system so that you can turn on your garden office or annexe lights while you're still in your house so your 30 second commute will be nicely lit rather than dark. Of course you can also use them inside your studio if you want as explained in the video below.


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

Monday, February 10, 2025

Shed of the Year 2025 entries now open


It's time to get your sheds, garden offices, and garden buildings spruced up because you can now enter for the Cuprinol Shed of the Year 2025, the 19th and counting.

This year's categories include Eco Haven, a slightly changed category from last year, marking Cuprinol's
teaming up with pollinator protection initiative Bee1, so entrants need to demonstrate their use of sustainable techniques and materials in the build, plus its attraction to bees and other pollinators.

Other categories will be Most Colourful Shed (one to look forward to!), Simple But Effective, Budget, Unexpected/Unique, Cabin or Summerhouse, Pub or Entertainment, and Workshop/Studio (always a favourite).

Only residents in the UK and Ireland are eligible to win the Cuprinol Shed of the Year title and the prizes of £1,000 in cash and £250 worth of Cuprinol products, and an exclusive nature's getaway experience worth up to £500. More information as always at readersheds.co.uk.

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Monday posts are sponsored by Cosy Garden Rooms, the UK's No. 1 bespoke garden room designer and builder.



Friday, February 07, 2025

Friday Finery: garden office approach


We often look at the interiors of a garden office or studio in this section, sometimes the exterior, but rarely the approach to it from the main property. A fine example of how this can be done simply but smartly is this delightful guided pathway towards a Cabin Master build.

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

Thursday, February 06, 2025

Are bothies the new shepherd's huts?


An entertaining read in The Times by Katrina Burroughs explains "How bothies became the hot new bolt hole" and further that "Shepherd’s huts? So over — the cool hideaway to covet right now is a bothy, and the more off-grid the better". It doesn't really go into the difference between them (and indeed one of the interviewees works in a shepherd's hut so...) but it's still a pleasant thing to cast your eye over if you have spare moment during lunchtime. Pictured above is a build from Bothy Stores in rural Suffolk.

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

 

Wednesday, February 05, 2025

L-shaped workshop studio

This new workshop studio by Garden Spaces measuring 6.4m x 3.66m in an L-shapeis for a client running a successful business who wanted a bespoke studio in her garden to run her growing business, but with plenty of natural light, wall and floor space, plus a durable floor strong eough to support a heavy work bench.

"We collectively decided on a bespoke durable paint, and not our usual painted finish," said Sales Director Robert Nita. "Instead of using floor to ceiling windows, we suggested, and installed, 2 x1200mm wide x 1050mm high windows which allowed for a workbench to be placed under the windows as well as provide natural light. The floor was finished in 18mm plywood, which provided a good area in which to work, as well as a stronger floor.

"We finished the room with a bespoke durable paint, and not our usual white paint finish. Sockets were installed at different levels as well as specific lights to provide a natural feel. An L-shape design was created alongside the client, to not only retain the tree, but make it a feature of the design. We stained our Thermowood cladding Ebony, giving the client the requested darker external finish."


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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

Monday, February 03, 2025

Garden Office with a toilet and kitchen

A useful post on the Cabin Master site about building a garden office with a toilet and kitchen (or indeed adding them to an existing build) runs through all the key elements to consider to make sure you think it all through carefully and the legal pitfalls not to stumble into. While it's not for everyone, there are numerous advantages including reducing the need to head back into you home and fewer household interruptions, plus with an eye to the future it's a decent long-term investment as upgrades like these are  likely to raise the resale value of your property. Well worth a read.

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Monday posts are sponsored by Cosy Garden Rooms, the UK's No. 1 bespoke garden room designer and builder.


Friday, January 31, 2025

Friday Finery: shedworking with a day bed

A fine setup for either working from home in your garden office or settling down for a nice read, from Lincolnshire Shepherd Huts' extensive gallery of delights.

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

Thursday, January 30, 2025

Building your own garden office: video

We haven't had a 'how I built my garden office' series of posts for a while so the Shedworking team was delighted to come across Andy Hammett's new series of videos doing exactly that. Andy is methodically building a new garden office and leather working studio in his back garden, starting with this first video from last month below in which he explains his aims and shows his plans. It looks like it will become a very useful set of videos for anybody else going down this route as Andy clearly knows what he is doing, though it will likely be a couple of months before we get major updates.

 

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

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Malvern Garden Buildings January garden office offer ending soon

You've only got a couple of days left if you want to take advantage of Malvern Garden Buildings's January offer on garden offices. Essentially there is 10% off all new Malvern Collection buildings plus free delivery and installation (though as always some terms and conditions apply). It's valid until January 31.

There's a similar cut-off date for it's Breeze House offer where there are even larger savings to be had, 30% on new circular Breeze Houses, 35% on new Oval Savannah and Oval Safari Breeze Houses, and 40% on new Oval Cape and Oval Amanzi Breeze Houses.

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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

Monday, January 27, 2025

France’s ‘garden shed tax’ 2025 updates

Important news about the garden office and studio situation in France via the fine folk at The Connexion who report that what has become known as the 'garden shed tax' or taxe d’aménagement has gone up this year.

The rules are complex (as they are in the UK) but it's essentially focused on any extensions or separate builds - and including mobile homes - with specs of 5m² or greater and have walls of 1.8m or higher. The calculation also varies between regions but the base figure has gone up to  €930 per m² ( €110 higher than it was three years ago)
 everywhere except in Ile-de-France where it is ow €1,054 per m². Connexion also wars that the tax folk are using AI-based detection services to hunt down any undeclared extensions.

Image courtesy France-based garden studio specialist Rêves &  Bois whose Freyja model is pictured.

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Monday posts are sponsored by Cosy Garden Rooms, the UK's No. 1 bespoke garden room designer and builder.

Friday, January 24, 2025

Friday Finery: window seat

Let's head into the weekend with something cosy and comfortable in the form of this rather pleasant windowseat arrangement from treehouse specialists Blue Forest.

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

Thursday, January 23, 2025

Unbuilt Cotswolds studio


A pre-construction image from Studio Hallett Ike's design for a fabulous looking standalone separate studio in a client's garden at their property in the Cotswolds within a conservation area. ​ Here's what they say about it: "The use of local stone, laid in different formats, contrasts against minimal detailing to the doors and windows, opening up to views over the Cotswolds. ​ ​" 

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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, January 22, 2025

'Influx of garden annexes' named as 2025 property trend

According to yahoo! finance, along with 'rush to convert rural barns', 'flats replacing shops', and 'more upwards building', 'influx of garden annexes' is one of the key trends to look out for in 2025, partly down to what it describes as "multi-generational living solutions". Here's a snippet about what they say:

With an aging population and families increasing looking to share the costs of accommodation, multi-generational living solutions are expected to increase in the coming years. Garden annexes, which offer easy access while simultaneously giving households privacy, are a particularly popular option.

Image courtesy Modern Garden Rooms

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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

 

Monday, January 20, 2025

Many remote workers likely to leave jobs if unable to work from home, says new report

Although this is a U.S. report from Pew Research Center, it makes relevant reading for those in the UK.

According to Pew, of those adults with a job they can do from home, three quarters are working remotely for at least part of the week. And 46% claim that if their employer banned working from home, it is likely that they would leave - indeed 26% say it is very likely.

Breaking the figures down, women are slightly more likely than men to look elsewhere for work, as are those under 50 than over 50, and not surprisingly people who work from home all the time mre than those who only do it sometimes.

Interestingly, most hybrid workers say they do not want to work from home all the time, with nearly three quarters saying they like going into the office sometimes during the week.

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Monday posts are sponsored by Cosy Garden Rooms, the UK's No. 1 bespoke garden room designer and builder.

Friday, January 17, 2025

Friday finery: Central desk

This week's Friday Finery is this garden office layout in an Eden Garden Rooms build. Desks are usually rammed against walls in most shedworking situations but here it's proudly set up in the centre of the studio where there is plenty of space and light to make the most of the working day.

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

Thursday, January 16, 2025

BBQ Cabin with Office


A fine example of how you can mix business with pleasure, here is a 10m² BBQ Cabin from Arctic Cabins which also serves as a garden office thanks to a carefully added extension at the back of the building.

"We use it at least every weekend and cook on the fire as much as possible," said owner Tim who also uses it to house his collection of memorabilia about The Beatles. "There’s something primeval I love about shutting yourself away down there and cooking on an open fire. We've made some delicious food in there and it's a great space to use when friends & family visit, as well as being a really handy room I can use when I'm working from home or I just want to escape the house for a while."

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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, January 15, 2025

Swedish shed style

I am writing a piece about Swedish sheds at the moment for a periodical so thought I would share this excellent blog post on Lobster & Swan (who also have a lovely online home interiors shop The Future Kept) about turning a B&Q Apex shed into a thing of Swedish-like beauty. Here's what they say about it:

"Could this be the tiniest man cave ever? It has been painted the perfect shade of rusty Swedish red and filled with wood and lots of mannish things. Inspired by our travels to Sweden earlier this year, we decided Dean’s shed should be a mini version of a Swedish cabin."

Lots more interior shots at the top link.

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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

 


Monday, January 13, 2025

Employers should offer flexible working during cold snap.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has urged employers to offer flexible working options during periods of cold weather and travel disruption.

“During periods of extreme weather, employers should try to be as flexible as possible, in terms of where and when their staff work," said Claire McCartney, Policy and Practice Manager at the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development. "Working from home, where this is possible, may allow employees to be more comfortable and productive and can support them to get their work done effectively.

“However, not all roles can be done remotely, so employers and employees will need to work out the best way for people to get to and from work. Flexibility in start and finish times can help employees navigate some of the challenges presented by icy conditions and travel disruption.

“Employers should also take steps to ensure workspaces are as comfortable as possible for employees, including access to facilities and adequate heating. Official guidance suggests that the minimum temperature for working indoors should be at least 16°C, or 13°C if employees are doing rigorous physical work. Health and safety should be a number one priority, and employers should be particularly mindful of those with a disability or health condition.”

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Monday posts are sponsored by Cosy Garden Rooms, the UK's No. 1 bespoke garden room designer and builder.

Friday, January 10, 2025

Friday Finery: Mudeford beach hut

 


While the weather outside is frightening, here's something to remind us that it won't be long until we can feel our toes again. It's the latest beach hut to go on sale at Denison's at Mudeford Sand Spit at Christchurch in Dorset, with room for up to eight people sleeping, a first floor mezzanine, and a solar-powered kitchen, not to mention that truly wonderful view. Sadly, it's just been sold (the asking price was £485,000...) but you can still have a virtual nose around at their site here.

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

Thursday, January 09, 2025

Annexe recording studio recommended by Savills


Savills has picked out a range of properties for sale at the start of the New Year with their own garden studios, reading rooms, and gyms. Among them is the Grade II listed Willow Tree Cottage in Axminster which boasts this splendid annexe which has been converted into a soundproofed recording studio plus separate workshop with a loft room. All yours for £895,000.

There is also the garden studio pictured above designed by the Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winner Diarmuid Gavin, currently used as a ceramicist's studio. In Richmond, Surrey, just under £3m, including a house. 

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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.