Edna St. Vincent Millay: Shedworker

Edna St. Vincent Millay- who wrote 'My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends— It gives a lovely light!' - was one of the most famous poets in America when she moved to her new home, Steepletop, aged 33 in March 1925. As well as the main farmhouse building, the property including hundreds of acres of land and various outbuildings.

Among them was a small outbuilding in a blueberry field which she claimed as her writing cabin, and she worked there - often with her German shepherd, Altair, as a companion - until  it burned down in 1928. Rather than give up on the shedworking lifestyle, she simply built another (pictured top) on the hill behind the house.

This was a simple garden office, constructed of unpainted pine boards, and surrounded by white pines planted to commemorate her mother's life, while around the cabin she also planted daffodils. It was modelled on George Bernard Shaw's revolving writing hut in Hertfordshire which she had visited. She wrote inside for three to four hours a day, inspired by the lovely environment around her - during her time at Steepletop she wrote several poetry collections, an opera libretto, and translated Baudelaire’s Fleurs du Mal.

The interior was furnished with a wooden desk and chair, stove, wing chair, and, a nice touch this, a chaise longue. Much of the estate has undergone conservation work by the charity that now runs it, and this includes the cabin which has been kept uncluttered.

Photo by Daniel Case

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George Bernard Shaw's writing hut Easter egg trail

There's an excellent Easter Trail at Shaw's Corner over the next few days featuring the great man's iconic writing hut. Visitors are encouraged to look for images of eggs around the grounds from today until Monday (April 6) from 10am until 12.30pm (last slot midday). It's  £3.50 per trail which includes an Easter trail sheet, bunny ears, and dairy or vegan and Free From* chocolate egg.

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George Bernard Shaw's memory celebrated at his writing hut

Yesterday, volunteers at Shaw's Corner came together at his writing hut for their annual celebration of George Bernard Shaw marking the day in 1950 when the great man's ashes were mixed with his wife Charlotte's and then spread around their garden surrounding the house. On this day, the volunteers meet at the hut and read from his works. An excellent thing to do.

Photo courtesy of Leah Calnon/National Trust

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Inside Dylan Thomas's writing shed (video)

One of the problems with visiting Dylan Thomas's writing shed in Wales is that the public is not normally allowed inside to have a proper look (although you can get a feel of it through the window), a gripe that is also applicable to George Bernard Shaw's writing hut in Hertfordshire. However, in the video below from around the 18.20 mark, you can enjoy an actual tour of the hallowed spot.

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Video footage of George Bernard Shaw in his writing hut aged 90

Here's a genuine slice of sheworking history, a long video clip of George Bernard Shaw at work in his writing hut from British Pathé which describes it as "excellent candid footage". It was shot on his 90th birthday at his home in Ayot St Lawrence just up the road from Shedworking HQ. Shaw comes out of his house, wanders down to his garden office, opens it, sits down and starts to use his typewriter.

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Garden offices in The Book Lover's Almanac

My latest book is out now, The Book Lover's Almanac and naturally there are numerous garden offices and shedlike atmospheres included inside. Among those authors whose writing huts get an entry are Virginia Woolf, George Bernard Shaw, John Steinbeck, Arthur Conan Doyle, and John Masefield, plus the Lausanne summerhouse where Edward Gibbon completed The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Available wherever good books are sold including Blackwells and your local independent bookseller.

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George Bernard Shaw's writing hut 2023 visit

The Shedworking staff made its annual pilgrimage to Shaw's Corner on the Bank Holiday to revel in the great man's writing hut. Here's a selection of images from our fun day out including of course the main attraction:

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Celebrating George Bernard Shaw's writing hut

It was the anniversary of the death of one of the 20th century's most famous shedworkers earlier in the month (November 2, 1950) and National Trust volunteers and staff at his home Shaw's Corner in Hertfordshire, just up the road from Shedworking HQ, along with members of the Shaw Society marked the occasion with a wreath laying on his marvellous writing hut, accompanied by three readings.

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Garden offices in Rooms of Their Own

 

My new book Rooms of Their Own is published today. It looks at the rooms and spaces in which great writers write, their habits and rituals, and is beautifully illustrated by James Oses. Unsurprisingly, I've included plenty of garden offices and studios so you can enjoy a look around the workspaces of George Bernard Shaw, Roald Dahl, Mark Twain, John Steinbeck (pictured bottom), Virginia Woolf, Isabel Allende, Michel de Montaigne (bit more tower than shed arguably), EB White (pictured below), and William Wordsworth.

 

Here's the full lowdown from the publishers, Quarto.

Rooms of Their Own travels around the world examining the unique spaces, habits and rituals in which famous writers created their most notable works. 

The perennial question asked of all authors is, 'How do you write?'. What do they require of their room or desk? Do they have favourite pens, paper or typewriters? And have they found the perfect daily routine to channel their creativity? Crossing centuries, continents and genres, Alex Johnson has pooled 50 of the best writers and transports you to the heart of their writing rooms – from attics and studies to billiard rooms and bathtubs.

Discover the ins and outs of how each great writer penned their famous texts, and the routines and habits they perfected. Meet authors who rely on silence and seclusion and those who need people, music and whisky. Meet novelists who travel half-way across the world to a luxury writing retreat, and others who just need an empty shed at the bottom of the garden. Some are particular about pencils, inks, paper and typewriters, and some will scribble on anything – including the furniture. But whether they write in the library or in cars, under trees, private islands, hotel rooms or towers – each of these stories confirms that there is no 'best way' to write.

From James Baldwin, writing in the small hours of the morning in his Paris apartment, to DH Lawrence writing at the foot of a towering Ponderosa pine tree, to the Brontë sisters managing in a crowded co-working space, this book takes us into the lives of some of history's greatest ever writers, with each writing space illustrated in evocative watercolour by James Oses.

In looking at the working lives of our favourite authors, bibliophiles will be transported to other worlds, aspiring writers will find inspiration and literature fans will gain deeper insight into their most-loved authors.

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Work From Shed: book review

When I published Shedworking: The Alternative Workplace Revolution back in 2010, there were very few books about sheds and none about garden offices. Since then, there's been, if not a flood, then a healthy flow of books about all aspects of #shedlife. But until now there's been nothing else dedicated solely to garden offices. Happily, the wait is over.

Work From Shed: Inspirational Garden Offices From Around The World comes from the excellent Hoxton Mini Press team of Ann Waldvogel and Martin Usborne, with text by Tara O'Sullivan and an introduction by architecture critic Rowan Moore. It's a fully illustrated hardback photobook, hand-pleasingly sized at 18cm x 22cm, printed on lovely high quality paper (indeed the book is carbon neutral) featuring an international collection of garden offices. The first half focuses on examples from the UK, the second looks further afield with selections from across the world (see below). Regular readers of Shedworking will be familiar with most, but certainly not all, of the builds, but that shouldn't put you off buying a copy because the illustrations are of excellent quality and numerous - there are plenty of full page and double-page images - and the short pieces of accompanying text provide useful details of key features, written in a friendly but authoritative way. Mercifully there's no unintelligible gushing.

This book brings the garden office story very much up to date, using very recent examples rather than dipping back into the history of shedworking (although we were delighted to see the iconic photo of George Bernard Shaw in front of his writing hut). It doesn't aim to examine the trend or make too much of the effects of the pandemic, but it is certainly an absolute must-buy for anybody working in a garden office, thinking of working in a garden office, or who doesn't yet realise that shedworking is the way forward in the 21st century. Also, they plant a tree for every copy of sold via their website.

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George Bernard Shaw's writing hut suffers storm damage

Good and bad news for fans of George Bernard Shaw's iconic writing hut at Shaw's Corner in Hertfordshire. As the picture in sunnier times above indicates, his literary sanctuary now owned by the National Trust is surrounded by trees and when the winds brought down a nearby Scots Pine, it nearly took out one of our foremost shedlike landmarks. The good news is that the tree only gave the hut a mild whack and while it did damage the roof (pictured below and more images of the wreckage in the Welwyn and Hatfield Times), repair work looks like it should not be too extensive.

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Shed Heaven

One for the shed section of your bookshelf, Shed Heaven by Anna Groves is published by National Trust/Pavilion. What makes this stand out for those working in garden offices, is that in addition to the various sheds owned by the NT on their properties, there is a significant focus on the ones in which people worked. There'll be no surprises for readers of Shedworking in terms of the properties, but it's nicely done. Here's the bumph:

"The National Trust looks after many of Britain’s most important and beloved buildings – its sheds. They lurk in the shadow of grand country houses; they brave the elements on the tops of cliffs; they have inspired famous writers and housed everything from beehives to birdwatchers.

"These beautiful and sometimes eccentric structures are as individual as their owners. A Victorian coastal shed in Cornwall is where the Reverend Hawker went to write verse, and smoke opium. It’s also the smallest building cared for by the National Trust. George Bernard Shaw’s shed could be rotated throughout the day to make the most of the sun, while sculptor Barbara Hepworth used hers for napping in. Rather than a place in which to create, many of these sheds are the creation.  

"Alongside the literary writing dens and horticultural hideaways there are also floating sheds, coastguards’ sheds, artists’ studios, summer houses, beach huts, camping pods, bothies, teahouses, follies and much more."

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Watercolours of writers' huts

Brighton-based illustrator and designer Melanie Smith has put together a lovely series of watercolour duotone illustrations of writers' and philosphers' huts. Here's what she says about them: 

"The idea came after some time spent in lockdown, and thinking about how creatives have self isolated over time, often within nature, to spend time contemplating life and their own lives. Many times writing down their thoughts and observations, so that they might share them with us, so we might all have a sense of what it can be like to be alone with our thoughts, and expansive in our thinking."

Above of course is George Bernard Shaw's writing hut, and the rest of the series include's Thoreau's hut at Walden Pond, Heidegger's in Germany, Dylan Thomas's in Wales, Virginia Woolf's at Monk House, and Wittgenstein's.

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George Bernard Shaw's writing shed 2021

 

 

George Bernard Shaw's writing hut is probably the Shedworking staff's favourite garden office and we've documented it in more detail over the last 15 years than I suspect any other site or publication. Way back in 2009 we ran a short photo essay, but we thought it was time to update that a little so we had a weekend trip to take it in again. It's all largely unchanged, though of course you can't go into his house at the moment, the only slightly upsetting thing was that the signage was all a bit bleak and the lovely little sign directing people to the writing hut has gone. And the shed itself is still shut, which is ludicrous. Nevertheless, always a pleasure.

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Watch George Bernard Shaw's writing hut rotate

While it's easy to see the outside of Shaw's hut (in normal times, anyway), the inside is locked away from visitors (for no particular reason - it would surely be a marvellous idea to open it up?). But here's a short video from the National Trust showing us around inside, which is nice, but much better, also demonstrating how it turns.

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