Although better known in Europe than the UK (at the moment) the very personable novelist Warwick Collins is the author of, among others, the
widely-acclaimed Gents. He is also a shedworker and was kind enough to answer a few questions for Shedworking.
What kind of shed/garden office do you have?About 8 years ago I had recently sold film rights for my novel The Rationalist and, unusually flush, I engaged a local architect to build a brick studio at the end of the garden, in amongst the trees there. It was built like a house, with insulation between walls, on a raft of reinforced concrete so the tree roots wouldn’t undermine it. The photograph is taken in midwinter, so you can’t see how surrounded by foliage it is in summer and autumn.
Why did you get it and why do you like working in it?I like walking out of the house to a separate place of work which, even though it’s only a few yards from the house, seems like an entirely different sphere. I don’t have a mobile telephone and in the shed I have no communications, so it’s a little oasis of peace and concentration.
What, if anything, don't you like about it?I’m afraid I like virtually every aspect of it. It would be even better if I were remotely tidy or well-organised, but that’s my failing, not the shed’s!
At the severe risk of sounding like Alan Partridge, do you have any funny or unusual shed-related stories?The tree overhanging the shed is a walnut tree. This is much prized by the local squirrels in the mid-summer when the walnuts ripen. I have no objection to the squirrels taking all the nuts, except that they insist on eating them on the branches above, scattering the green husks all over the terrace. Walnut is a famous stain, too, and the mess looks disgusting, even to a person of my tolerance of disorder. To encourage the squirrels to eat their spoils elsewhere, I have a very strong water-pistol (little things please little minds) and since squirrels are truculent by nature, I have a running battle through the summer which I claim gives all parties innocent exercise. Once I was chasing a squirrel running along the garden wall and I slipped on some moss and nearly cracked my head. I’m glad it wasn’t worse, not least for the embarrassment of explaining the details to the medical world. I could envisage headlines in the local newspaper. WRITER HOSPITALISED AFTER PERSECUTING SQUIRREL WITH WATER PISTOL.
The giant of the fish and chip world, Harry Ramsden's, started off in a hut. As Shedblog reports, today in 1928, Harry Ramsden started up the business in a hut (pictured above) in Guiseley, near Leeds. He continued there for three years before upgrading to something rather larger with chandeliers. The original hut stands on the original site, next to the main restaurant.
Two marvellous shedworking pieces of furniture from the man who also produced the faboulous Walden. First, Lese+Lebe, which Nils describes as "‘Hieronymus im Gehäuse’, a beach chair on the sea, a Lokomotive dining compartment... An escape in the room, which invites you to just sit down and relax while having a cup of tea and browsing in your favourite book." It's a two-seater with fold-down table, shelf, drawers and extendable footrests. Very nice.
And then the Bookinist a chair on wheels with room for 80 paperbacks in the arms and backrest plus reading lamp and hidden compartments for bookmarks, pencils, pencil sharpeners and pocketbock. Also very nice.
Although better known in Europe than the UK (at the moment) the very personable novelist Warwick Collins is the author of, among others, the widely-acclaimed Gents. He is also a shedworker and was kind enough to answer a few questions for Shedworking.
Why did you get it and why do you like working in it?
Been Seen is an intriguing site which often features shedlike atmospheres such as the Arkiboat by Drew Heath pictured right at the end of this post (also responsible for the rather nice Zig Zag cabin). And I'm delighted to learn that the nerve centre of Been Seen is Veronique's garden office, pictured above and below.
Tiny Buildings is a marvellous site which is microarchitecture at a very micro level run by Sharon Mount, models made from business cards, packaging and other nice papers. Above is a replica of log cabin, in the woods near Falls Church, Virginia (the business card is from Blue Hill@Stone Barn restaurant and organic farm in the Hudson Valley, north of Manhattan), below is a Toblerone chalet. Not only worth a long browse, there's a lovely Christmas theme to the construction - and the story behind them is told simply and movingly. This is how it starts: 
If you're really stuck for room in your garden office, how about doubling up bookcase and workpod space with Sakura Adachi's Cave. According to Sakura: "A bookcase CAVE provides a private reading space within its form. As a seat height is just above the floor, CAVE gives a feeling of hiding from others standing around it. Books can be stored on both sides."
Wiltshire-based The Shepherd's Hut Restoration Company has been producing huts since 2002. They make customised, authentically restored huts on wheels using original materials such as cast iron wheels and corrugated iron, sourced and salvaged locally in Wiltshire. There are plenty of inspiring images on the site to browse around.
