This week's Finery comes courtesy of the Munich-based garden buildings supplier Koya who offer this wonderful, very glassy, garden office. They comment, somewhat enigmatically, that: " You can place the module freely in your garden, on free parking spaces, terraces or other areas." The build is put together in Koya's factory and delivered fully assembled.
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From Sandbanks to Southbourne, beach huts in the Bournemouth and Poole area are once again available for booking from the local council.
A new ruling for this season means that beachgoers can book a short-term beach hut online for a single week instead of the previous four week minimum. Additionally, people will have longer to enjoy their hut as bookings finish and keys are returned by 5pm on the last day of their booking.
The one-week hires are available at beaches in Bournemouth and Poole for the first time in five years. Beach hut users will now have even greater flexibility when hiring a hut for short-term use – with the ability to book multiple huts for various durations.
Prices start at £119 a week (subject to availability and time of year).
People can now also take advantage of same day bookings which will be offered as walk-ins on a first come-first served basis in selected locations and will not be bookable online. You can only hire a daily hut in person at the Tourist Information Centre at Bournemouth Pier Approach. Prices vary based on the time of year and start from £19, subject to availability.
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Long-time friend of Shedworking Ric Frankland has been producing some marvellous new builds with his affordable and sustainable timber frame building company wudl. Pictured above are shots from a recent small modular building in north London using wudl's engineered timber frame panels and a combination of sheep's wool, recycled PET (plastic bottles) and wood fibre insulation. The cladding is Canadian Douglas Fir, made as 800mm wide panels in wudl's small factory so that the entire building can be easily disassembled and relocated in three or four years time. wudl used a river washed pebble ballast on the roof so they didn't need to adhere the EPDM membrane down to the insulation.
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Monday posts are sponsored by Cosy Garden Rooms, the UK's No. 1 bespoke garden room designer and builder.
This week's visual delight is this absolutely gorgeous artist's studio in Hampshire by Cooke-Fawcett Architects which has just been shortlisted for RIBA's South Awards 2025. It's part of a conversion of a 17th century mill house to create a sustainable live-work space connected to its historic waterside setting. Equally lovely photos by James Brittain via RIBA.
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Many people looking for a garden office are particularly minded to make sure the build does not hurt the environment. Taking Cosy Garden Rooms as an example of what's on the market if you're looking to make a responsible choice, here are some elements to look out fo:
- sustainable materials including FSC-certified timber which rewards responsible forest management
- energy efficiency in the form of solar panels
- underfloor heating, providing a warm workspace during colder months without excessive energy consumption
- eco-friendly features such as green roofs (enhancing insulation, promoting biodiversity, and managing rainwater)
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Interesting reports in various sections of the media suggest that permission in Irish back gardens to build cabin structures and granny flats are being seriously considered by the government. It seems that Junior Minister in the Department of Housing Fine Gael's John Cummins has spoken with officials in the last few weeks to discuss the possibility of adapting planning exemption regulations.
Currently, planning exemptions allow for a 40 sq/m extension to the back of a home if it is attached to the main property. This new plan would be aimed at making things easier for people looking to provide accommodation for intergenerational families, but it could also open the door to those keen to erect garden offices and other garden buildings without permission.
Early days yet, but we will follow this story with interest.
Image courtesy Booths Garden Studios
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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.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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