Baumhaus Office

Baumhaus Office is a remarkable build from Munich-based Opposite Office which really puts the garden in garden office. It's essentially a titchy one-square-meter cabin halfway up a tree on the campus of Bauhaus-Universität Weimar which optimistically is designed for up to two or three architects ("the treehouse was calculated with safety factors generous enough to satisfy both physics and bureaucracy" say the designers). Features include a skylight which has a marvellous view into the canopy above. Lots more photos at the link above.

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Studio Flat garden office

An excellent case study from Malvern Garden Buildings focusing on the Studio Flat model owned by chef and writer James Strawbridge who uses it mostly as a garden office, but also as a gym, art studio, and general family relaxation zone. Here's what he says:

“I always wanted it to be multifunctional, but it has become even more versatile than I expected. It’s a rowing room, home-education classroom, editing suite, art studio and a place for banjo lessons. It feels like a proper extension of our home and gives us space for creativity, fitness, music, art, work and mental wellbeing. For me, it’s primarily somewhere to work and create. I can switch off by playing music or using the rowing machine, but it’s mostly a calm, productive space.”

You can read the rest of the interview and see plenty of interior and exterior images via the link above. 

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Friday Finery: Alvaro Barrington's To Be Heard

If you're in the Netherlands any time from now up to October 11, pop across to Arnhem and this year's iteration of the annual public art project Sonsbeek 2026: Ik hoef geen tuin, ik deel een park (I don't need a backyard, I share a park). 

Pick of the attractions in the park is Alvaro Barrington's To Be Heard, pictured above, and this is what he says about it:



Entering the structure, the visitor is invited to sit and allow themselves to hear the world. There is no programmed audio. Instead, what is heard is the rustling of leaves, distant footsteps, one’s own thoughts. Distinctly architectural, the work mediates between nature and shelter, solitude and collectivity. It asks whether hearing, as a deeper attunement to environment and the self, might reshape how memory is formed and proposes that sharing and building space requires learning how to hear within it.

 The whole thing is free for everyone to enjoy.

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First steps to building a shed in France

Longstanding friend of Shedworking Nick Inman who is a long-term resident of France has started a short series about building sheds for the excellent connexionfrance.com site.  Well worth a read and you can catch up with it here.

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Charles Dickens's writing chalet open to public

Now is your chance to have a look around Charles Dickens's writing chalet in Rochester. The ground floor will be open to the public as part of the Heritage Open Days scheme on September 12, 13, 19, and 20 (click link to book).

Visiting hours are between 11am and 4pm at Eastgate Gardens off Rochester High Street where members of the council's Heritage Team, the Friends of Eastgate House and the Charles Dickens Fellowship will be on chat about the building.

There will also be talks and tours throughout each day, full details via the link above. Booking is not necessary. 

Image courtesy Visit Medway 

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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

 

 

Malvern Garden Buildings' ex-display sale

 

If you're looking for a new garden office, this is a good time to peruse the roughly 400 offerings from the various Malvern Garden Buildings' show sites around the country where they are renewing their stock. Reductions are 25% and upwards off the original price, and includes delivery and installation when the garden building is installed within 25 miles of the showsite where it’s located.

According to Malvern, each ex-display garden building is a one-off, available on a first-come, first-served basis, and often finished to a higher specification, having been designed to showcase the possibilities.

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Research reveals importance of solid wi-fi connection to shedworkers

Around one in eight workers in the UK are struggling to work from home because their wi-fi connection is not fit for use, according to research from comparison site Uswitch.

The poll of more than 2,000 people revealed that just over a third felt their home wi-fi connection was poor, affecting their ability to work remotely or from home. Worryingly, 
only 15% said their home office was one of the best rooms for getting a good connection while 9% struggled to get any connection in their home office at all.

A fifth say they they have consequently been forced to work from other rooms, such as the kitchen and their children’s bedrooms, and the same figure had experienced work calls disconnecting.

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

 

 

UK’s best value beach huts

 

According to new research from Monzo the best value beach huts for a day out are:

1. Barry Island, Vale of Glamorgan Council: £24/day
2. Swanage Beach (Spa Beach Huts), Swanage Town Council: £26/day
3. Bournemouth Beach, BCP Council: £30/day
3. Crooklets Promenade, Bude-Stratton Town Council: £30/day
3. Lowestoft & Felixstowe, East Suffolk Council: £30/day
3. Swanage Beach (Shore Beach Huts, Upper Level), Swanage Town Council: £30/day
4. Thanet Coastline, Thanet District Council: £35/day
5. Mablethorpe Promenade, Mablethorpe & Sutton Town Council: £35.95/day

and for a longer trip:

1. Lowestoft & Felixstowe, East Suffolk Council: £100/week
2. Belvedere Beach, East Riding of Yorkshire Council: £130/week
2. Hornsea Beach, East Riding of Yorkshire Council: £130/week
3. Swanage Beach (Spa Beach Huts), Swanage Town Council: £151/week
4. Whitby West Cliff Promenade, North Yorkshire Council: £187/week
5. Swanage Beach (Shore Beach Huts, Upper Level), Swanage Town Council: £190/week

In terms of accessible beach huts, the researchers name East Suffolk as offering the widest range of accessible hire options, starting from £50 per day or £145 per week during the summer. 

Photo courtesy MrMatt1 

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Last chance to enter Love Your Hut of the Year 2026

Summer is always shed competition time and you've only got a few days to enter the annual Love Your Hut of the Year competition which celebrates the many wonderful beach huts up and down the country. The winner receives a luxury hamper (Champagne, exotic cordial, jam, sea salt crackers, tapenade, sun cream and aftersun), a LYH logo beach towel, LYH sunglasses and a £25 Blackhawk voucher, plus the Love Your Hut of the Year plaque. There are also runners-up prizes.

Details of how to enter at the link above and the closing date is September 1. 

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

 

Bar Hibby's scoops Pub Shed of the Year 2026 title

Wolverhampton Wanderers-themed pub shed Bar Hibby's in Rugeley has won the 2026 Pub Shed of the Year organised once again by Two Fat Blokes Bar Signs and Ngage Radio.

Owned by Tina and Rich Hibbs who built it in 2018, the 20ftx10ft Staffordshire shed is decorated with a huge collection of Wolves memorabilia and is used by all the family for relaxing and parties as well as Christmas lunch. Last year's winner Cognito's owned by Glen Gandy from Willenhall also had a Wolves theme.

Other features include an outdoor play area,  beer garden, Pac-Man arcade machine, large screen television, bar with lager and cider on draught, and traditional pub benches and tables. 

The two runners-up in the competition which attracted 1,088 entries were The Mucky Pub in Wakefield and The Pampered Chicken in Emsworth.

Next year's competition will see all six previous winners pitted against each other.

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Scottish Royal summerhouse conservation completed

A Bavarian-style rustic summerhouse built in the mid-19th century as a wedding gift for the Princess Marie of Baden has reopened following the National Trust for Scotland’s conservation works at Brodick Castle, Garden & Country Park.

A striking feature on the coastline of the Isle of Arran, the restored summerhouse is the grandest, and the only surviving, of four summerhouses built for Princess Marie in the gardens of Brodick Castle following her marriage to William the 11th Duke of Hamilton. 

The summerhouse is built into the sandstone rockface and offers spectacular views over Brodick Bay. It is a listed building, described by Historic Environment Scotland as a “rare and outstanding example of an elaborately decorated summerhouse situated within a designed picturesque landscape."

“The princess was a vibrant socialite who mingled with the highest ranks of European society, hosting them among her exceptional gardens," said Laura Baillie, the National Trust for Scotland's Conservation Building Surveyor for the South & West region. “She had a close relationship with her cousin Louis-Napolean Bonaparte, hosting him several times at Brodick Castle.”

Conservation works on the summerhouse included maintenance of the rhododendron stem decoration, replacement of heritage glass in the windows, the addition of latches on the windows, and repairs to the slate facetted roof. Plans are underway to repair the original interior ceiling, which is decorated with pinecones, the work of Bavarian craftsmen. Joinery works were carried out by local TF Joinery and decoration works have been completed by local painter Homes by Holmes.

Along with the other three summerhouses, the Bavarian summerhouse provided a resting place along the ‘Romantic Walks’ created by Princess Marie through the woodlands between 1843 and 1863, in collaboration with her friend, the artist George Hering. Today, the summerhouse can be reached from Brodick Castle by way of a circular walk that passes the walled garden, pond and summerhouse, before heading back to the castle.

Photos copyright Alan MacAteer Photo.

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Shedworking on holiday

 

The Shedworking staff has scarpered to the beach for a few days rest, relaxation, and rereading of The Philosophy of Sheds, published by the British Library and available at all good bookshops. See you again next week.

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

 

The Philosophy of Sheds goes international

A nice story about the importance of sheds to a happy life written by my former colleague from Yorkshire Evening Press days Helen Rowe now at AFP press agency gives my latest book The Philosophy of Sheds a nice name check with some quotes by me about the joy of sheds - the piece has been published all over the world including Malaysia and Luxembourg. You can try it in English here https://www.yahoo.com/.../british-eccentrics-push-humble... or in French here https://www.laprovence.com/.../royaume-uni-loin-de-la...

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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

 

 

Friday Finery: The Thomas Gainsborough Garden

 

This week's finery was the marvellous Hipped Garden Studio from Malvern Garden Buildings that appeared last month at the inaugural RHS Flower Show at Sandringham in The Thomas Gainsborough Garden designed by Frederic Whyte. 

This was built as a north-facing artist's studio and finished in a gentle green-grey shade with a soft yellow interior that was very simply furnished, and also featured specially commissioned diptych paintings by artist Kate Giles celebrating the garden as well as handcrafted furniture by Otis of O B Luxton.

You can see it in the excellent video below from about the 14:50 mark, but look out also for the excellent shedlike atmospheres featured in the show too in the other gardens. 

 

 

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Outdoor teenager den garden room

To celebrate A level results day, here is a 4m x 2m Canopy Room model from Modern Garden Rooms which is used as a den for the Surrey client's teenagers. Features include French doors, two 0.5m sidelights with top opening windows, and a knotty grade cedar cladding on the rear of the building facing against the fence to help keep costs down.

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

 

EcoNeo low carbon summerhouse

 

This is a tremendous summerhouse from Cophenhagen-based SAGA Space Architects (who design some very shedlike space buildings too).

They call it the EcoNeo house and it measures 35 m², catering for a family of 6, and includes this year's must-have shed feature, a sauna. It is made entirely out of biogenic material, with exterior oak shingles cladding, and inside a mixture of plywood, Douglas fir, birch, and OSB panels. 

There are lots of eco-friendly elements to the build and some lovely photos of it too (click link above to take a look) but understandably they are particularly proud of its carbon footprint. Here's what they say on the subject:

The average size of a new summerhouse in Denmark is 93.6m², with an average emission of 9.5 kg CO2 per m² per year. By comparison, EcoNeo is only 35m², reducing its overall footprint by approximately 60% through size alone. Combined with its use of biogenic materials, efficient systems, smart environmental controls, and renewable energy support, EcoNeo achieves an estimated footprint of 175 kg CO2 per year, compared to approximately 883.5 kg CO2 per year for an average newly built Danish summerhouse. This represents an estimated reduction of around 80%.

Marvellous photo by Edi Cliff 

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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

 

Win £10,000 off an Arctic Cabin or Cabin Master garden room

A great competition from Arctic Cabins and Cabin Master. To celebrate 10 years of their Nottingham show site, they are offering £10,000 off a garden room or BBQ cabin to one lucky winner in their draw. Simply enter your details to take part, no purchase necessary, and it's free. And you can get bonus entries by visiting the show site and registering with the sales team, and also by buying a cabin. Do check the Ts&Cs but essentially you need to be over 18 and resident in the UK. Entries close August 31.

Click here or here to enter. 

Enter via the form for 1 entry, and get bonus entries by:
- Visiting either Midlands show site & registering with a member of our sales team (+1 bonus entry), and
- Purchasing a qualifying cabin: (+1 bonus entry.)

Beach hut libraries

The marvellous Lire à la Plage scheme which runs along the Seine-Maritime coastline in France is celebrating its 20th anniversary this summer.

Run from 13 blue and white beach huts operate as open air libraries and also include author meet-and-greets, writing workshops, and activities by the sea, this year's theme is 'What were we reading 20 years ago, and what are 20-year-old readers reading today?'

Running until August 23, this year's patron is novelist Katherine Pancol 

Rouen is also putting on an open-air photographic exhibition 'Reading at the Beach is 20 Years Old' on the railings of the Departmental Council building until August 21.

The 13 libraries are in Jumièges-Le Mesnil, Criel-sur-Mer, Dieppe,  Étretat,  Fécamp , Le Havre,  Le Tréport,  Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, Saint-Valery-en-Caux, Veules-les-Roses,  Yport, Saint-Jouin-Bruneval and Sainte-Adresse. They open 11am until 7pm every day, with around 1,000 books per cabin.

Photo courtesy Département de Seine-Maritime

Friday Finery: garden office greenery

For this week's Finery, a reminder that while the view of your garden through your garden office windows may bring to mind thoughts of hay fields, it will all bloom again. The example here is of a particularly 'bringing the outside in' 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 

 

New figures suggest the beach hut boom is over

After a boom in popularity during Covid, beach hut prices appear to be in freefall, according to new figures from online estate agent Yopa.

Asking prices in eight of the UK's popular coastal counties fell 9.8% in the year to July 2026 according to Yopa, while in the year to July 2025 they saw a 19.6% drop, partly a reaction to an increase in supply.

The figures indicate the worst decline in prices has been in West Sussex, a fall of 35% from £33,044 to £21,444 in the year to July. It is followed by Norfolk (13%), and then
Essex and Hampshire (12%).

Bucking the trend are Suffolk which has seen a rise of 6.6 per cent to £27,676, and Dorset up 2.8% and representing the most expensive available, for example at Mudeford, at an average of £105,343.

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