This week's Finery is actually for sale. It's the treehouse in the grounds of the Old Rectory in Kilvington near Nottingham. On the market with Strutt & Parker for £1.6m which also gets you 6 acres of land, a five-bedroom home, and other utbuildings include a garden room with kitchen, garaging and a tool shed, plus a 3 acre paddock with stabling.
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A splendid build by By Boon in South Oxfordshire near a natural swimming lake. Features include a tin roof, decking along the length of the cabin, and old Crittell windows sourced from a 1950s East London factory. Interestingly, the whole thing was built on a cassise and wheels so it can be fairly easily moved if/when necessary.
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"For most of the past decade, garden rooms sat in the homeowner trend column, first as a lifestyle upgrade and then as a lockdown solution that quietly outlived the pandemic. In 2026, they have become something more interesting for property investors: a low-friction asset-improvement tool with potential impact on rental yield, tenant retention and exit value. Add permitted development rules, limited EPC disruption and no separate council tax treatment where the room remains ancillary, and the back garden starts to look less like unused space and more like a portfolio lever."
For more on this, see the story on Property Investor Today.
Images courtesy Smart Modular Buildings
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This marvellously evocative photo of William Wordsworth's writing hut at Rydal Mount was taken by friend of Shedworking photographer and writer Chris Routledge. Of equally high calibre is this guest post written exclusively for us by Kira Welland a PhD student at the University of Cumbria in Ambleside whose research (‘The spatial contexts of Rydal Mount and how these influence the influence the writings of Mary, Dorothy, and Dora Wordsworth’), explores the literary heritage and architectural history of Rydal Mount:
At the head of the Rydal Mount gardens sits a poet’s throne. This is the Summer House, a garden hut that holds gravitas far beyond its humble size. It was here that William Wordsworth (1770-1850) would compose his poetry. However, this quaint writing hut not only provided the location for poesy; it was also a source of inspiration.
Wordsworth lived at Rydal Mount from 1813 until his death in 1850, and he was responsible for defining the character of its gardens. The terraces, built to mimic walking in the fells, were largely landscaped by Wordsworth during the 1820s.
Connecting two of these terraces, it is likely Wordsworth built the Summer House around the same time. Certainly by 1826, Wordsworth wrote a poem on the prospect of being evicted from Rydal Mount, and intended to inscribe it on the door of the Summer House:
The Massy Ways, carried across these heights
By Roman perseverance, are destroyed, -
Or hidden underground, like sleeping worms.
How then to hope that Time will spare
This humble walk? Yet on the mountain’s side
A Poet’s hand first shaped it; and the steps
Of that same Bard – repeated to and fro
At morn, at noon, and under moonlight skies
Through the vicissitudes of many a year -
Forbade the weeds to creep o’er its grey line.
William Wordsworth, ‘The Massy Ways, carried across these heights’, lines 1-10.As the current structure differs slightly from Wordsworth’s day, the Summer House is now open on both sides to allow direct access from one terrace to another. Constructed from slate and previously lined with pinecones, it appears as an organic feature of the fellside, reflecting Wordsworth’s Romantic philosophy. With the doorways framing picturesque views towards Wansfell and Loughrigg, the little hut has big prospects, and it is easy to see how one could be enraptured in poesy from such a place.
The Summer House inspired compositions beyond those of its maker. Maria Jane Jewsbury (1800-1833) first visited Rydal Mount in 1825, and was captivated by the house and grounds. The resulting work ‘A Poet’s Home’ was published in The Literary Magnet in 1826, and featured the following lines referring to the Summer House:
Winding walk, and sheltered nook,
For student grave, and graver book;
Or a bird-like bower, perchance,
Fit for maiden and romance.
Maria Jane Jewsbury, ‘A Poet’s Home’, lines 9-12.Jewsbury expresses the versatility of the Summer House, both in its purpose for Wordsworth’s philosophical ponderings, but also as a sanctuary. The ‘sheltered nook’ evokes a familial intimacy fitting for the small hut, particularly when paired with ideas of youth and romance in the following lines. Located at the highest point in the grounds yet shielded by magnificent trees, it is a paradoxical place: small, but grand; sheltered, but imposing; solemn, but whimsical.
Two hundred years later, the Summer House continues its contradictory existence. It encapsulates the sublimity of the Lake District’s landscape, simultaneously lofty and snug. The Summer House endures as a venue and source for creativity, captured in Chris Routledge’s recent photograph. To use Wordsworth’s own words, this hut prevails for “... those pure Minds that reverence the Muse”, and will hopefully continue to do so for generations to come.
For the past few years, Kira has worked as Rydal Mount’s House Guide and Administrator, and now works for the Wordsworth Conference Foundation. She is in the process of creating her own blog recording her research journey, and is also active on Instagram, Bluesky, and
LinkedIn.
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There were plenty of garden offices, sheds, and other shedlike structures at Chelsea Flower Show which I visited yesterday. Three highlights for you, plus a recommendation to get along if you can at all as there is so much to see there. First of all, something I think we can all get behind, The Old Shed Key Bottle Opener.
Next, my favourite build of the show, The Composer's Cabin by Malvern Garden Buildings which we've mentioned a couple of times before this year on Shedworking.
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Three useful videos as an introduction to Booths Garden Studios' new garden room design.
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The Shedworking team will be travelling to RHS Chelsea Flower Show tomorrow and will report back with sheddish structures on our return, but in the meantime large congratulations to the folk behind The Composer's Cabin pictured above, designed by Martha Krempel, sponsored by London St Pancras Highspeed, and all set in a Malvern Garden Buildings build as part of the Houseplant Studios section it is sponsoring again this year. Features include a swing-seat, a Steinway piano, and rather nice windows to the side.
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The search is on for Scottish Men’s Shed of the Year 2026 recognising the role sheds play in supporting men’s health, wellbeing, and connection across the country.
SMSA CEO Jason Schroeder said: “Our awards programme has come a long way since it first launched back in 2019, just like the movement itself. Today, we’re immensely proud to now support more than 12,000 men, all volunteers, across over 210 open or developing Shed groups in every one of Scotland’s 32 local authority areas.
“We want to hear your Shed’s story through the Awards application and celebrate the incredible work you’ve delivered over the past 12 months and give it the recognition it deserves.”
The awards will again recognise excellence across five regional categories:
• East Coast (North)
• East Coast (South)
• West Coast (North)
• West Coast (South)
• Highlands & Islands
Each region will crown its own winner, with all five progressing into the running for the national title. From there, the SMSA board will select three finalists who will go forward to a public vote to decide the overall winner.
Applications close June 30, winner announced August 28.
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RHS Chelsea Flower Show is approaching and Plankbridge will be celebrating the construction of its 700th shepherd's hut by bringing along one of its vintage models, now nearly 10 years old to their display at Stand RA644. It's a 14ft traditionally proportioned model lent by its owners for the show. Features include a double bed, kitchen, and fold-down table/desk.
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Around the country the latest trend in shed-based businesses is Cake Sheds, small, often self-service, wooden sheds/huts which offer homemade baked goods on a commercial but more informal level.
However, local newspapers have been reporting on various issues arising from them in terms of approval/interference from local authorities.
Among these is Bassetlaw District Council in Nottinghamshirehas which has reconsidered its current approach to the licensing of ‘Cake Sheds and Cupboards’ following feedback from residents across the district.
The Council has now paused enforcement of its Street Trader Policy where it specifically relates to ‘Cake Sheds and Cupboards’ while the Licensing Committee considers the wider implications of the policy on potential traders and members of the public.
This means that residents who trade using ‘Cake Sheds and Cupboards’ on their own land will be able to continue to do so without a licence until further notice.
Cllr June Evans, Cabinet Member for Governance, which includes Legal and Licensing, said: “We have seen the public reaction to the introduction of this policy and the impact that it could potentially have on residents who provide ‘cake sheds or cupboards’. We also recognise the community benefit these enterprises can have in some areas.
“Having considered our current approach, we have decided to pause all enforcement action that relates specifically to ‘cake sheds and cupboards’ while this part of the Street Trader Policy can be reviewed by our Licensing Committee, including any fees and charges.
“The Street Trader Policy still remains in place as it guides and licenses other forms of street trading throughout the district. We will also continue to monitor the situation, especially where we receive complaints from members of the public that relate specifically to ‘cake sheds and cupboards’, and where there could be serious concerns raised around their impact on other members of a community, food safety and hygiene, and issues including electrical, gas or fire risks."
Image courtesy of The Cake Place Cake Shed, Dinas Powys, Vale of Glamorgan
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A lovely build by Freddy Tuppen with Willem Hampson and Will Thomson for a garden office in East London which is carefully built around a tree and its roots. Features include ground screw foundations, wood fibre insulation, untreated timber, a clerestory window, large front-facing windows, and a lightwell surrounding the tree. Inside are tailormade furnishings include a Shedworking favourite, a day bed. Lots more atmospheric photos at the link above.
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Oslo's National Museum of Norway's new exhibition - Wenche Selmer: What Can You Live Without? - looks at Norwegian architect Wenche Selmer who cultivated an ideal of a rich life lived with simple means using drawings, notes, photography and a full size cabin.
Running until October 4, the exhibtion concentrates on the Norwegian cabins and wooden houses that Wenche Selmer (1920–1998) designed as part of her approach to architecture; she regarded the cabin as a metaphor for a simple, good life, asking her clients “What can you live without?”.
The museum has made use of the exhibition space's considerable size by installing a full-scale version of Selmer’s prototype Beach house cabin inside the exhibition. Visitors can enter the cabin, go upstairs, and even lie down on the bed.
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Pictured above, the full-scale cabin, photo by Andreas Harvik. Top image: Summer House for Aarnæs (1952) photo by Jens Selmer.
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There's a new RHS judged category at the Malvern Spring Festival this year called Floral Tablescaping. Floral designers have been competing to style the interior of a garden shed with attractive table settings inside, themes including 'woodland restaurant', 'fairytale woodlands' and ';storybook settings'. More images here - the show continues until Sunday.
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A new study from Durham Business School warns that remote working can damage work-life balance, wellbeing, and productivity unless clear boundaries are in place.
It found that interruptions at home - what they call “cross-domain interruptions” such as domestic tasks - can disrupt focus and recommends that people can reduce interruptions by creating a defined workspace, such as a garden office, rather than working from shared areas like the kitchen table. Other suggestions included taking proper breaks to rest and reset, rather than using that time for household chores.
The study analysed daily diary entries from 87 remote workers across sectors including teaching, finance, IT and public administration. The findings reveal a pattern of rising stress and a greater need for recovery when work was interrupted by home life. Workers also reported lower levels of wellbeing. Blurred boundaries also made it harder for employees to switch off at the end of the day.
Image courtesy Smart Modular Buildings
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Shepherd's hut specialist Plankbridge still produce a marvellously elegant shepherd's hut, but in recent years as regular Shedworking readers know the Dorset-based hutters have expanded their offering into other hut-shaped builds such as tack rooms and garden privvies.
This new offering, the Coppice Sauna, comes in at at 2m x 2m, and is clad in black-painted timber (inside it's Scandinavian aspen lining), coming with a large window and glazed door. As you'd expect there is a two-tiered timber seating inside with an 8kw electric stove, a spruce ceiling, and fully insulated 70mm wall cavity to ensure a smashing sauna experiece.
It also comes in an off-grid version, fitted with a wood-fired sauna unit and solar panels. Decking is an optional extra.
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Available everywhere good books are sold, ideally from your local independent bookseller, and online at the likes of Blackwells. It's published by those fine folk at the British Library who have this to say about it:
At a time when it feels like every year buildings get larger and more impersonal, sheds remain a beacon of ergonomic simplicity. Maybe it's the nostalgia of the ancient huts from which humanity evolved, or the sense of focused calm produced by shutting yourself away in one, but around the world and across generations we have found comfort in our sheds. They are wooden repositories for our inner lives: cheap, multifunctional spaces ready to be filled with the passions, tools and ideas of the individual.
In these pages you'll find rotating sheds, sheds on wheels and holy sheds, as Alex Johnson uncovers the universal lure of these tiny structures. Also detailed are some of the big ideas these little huts have birthed, from inventions and philosophies to literature, art and increasingly eccentric answers to the question: what exactly can a shed be? The Philosophy of Sheds also includes a gazetteer of famous and unique sheds of the world and is illustrated with archival imagery from the British Library collections.
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An idyllic treehouse writer's retreat by Richmond Bell Architects with a a frameless window which has an extremely distracting view and a total floor area of 18m2 . Sustainable larch from Dorset is used inside and out with a cedar shingle roof, and reclaimed chapel floorboards were used for the bookcase wall. There's a hidden door behind the bookcase leading on to a wraparound raised walkway.
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