Walden: The game

If you've ever fancied your hand at following Godfather of Shedworking Henry David Thoreau's efforts at Walden, then your luck is literally in. After 10 yeas of development, a new video game has been launched called Walden in which the designers say you get to:

Play as philosopher and naturalist Henry David Thoreau in his experiment in self-reliant living at Walden Pond. Live off the land, seek out the small wonders and beauties of the woods, and find balance between your need to survive and your desire to find inspiration.

Here's some actual gameplay action...

The game takes around six hours and starts in the summer of 1845 when HDT built his famous cabin, finishing around the end of his first year in the woods.  Now it's up to YOU to survive each season pondside, track down food, and make sure your hut doesn't disintegrate. But the game also encourages you to take some time to stand and stare, as well as meet HDT's famous friends and associates including Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Walden is available for PC and Mac in an early access Alpha version. More details here including how to download and pay ($18.45).

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Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning

Living Huts

Every year we keenly spot the trends in the shedlike world and after a period when designs seemed to be getting smaller, they now seem to be getting a little bigger, perhaps the influence of the tiny house movement. So we were intrigued to see that Plankbridge, one of our favourite shepherds' huts suppliers, has now brought out a Living Huts range (as part of its Master Hutmakers' Collection) which are a little wider than a traditional hut and also "fitted with the means to prepare food and washing facilities".
 

"At 8’ or more wide and with its wheels set underneath its sides, the Living Hut allows us more room to play with and can even accommodate internal walls for the addition of a separate toilet or shower room," says Richard Lee from Plankbridge. "Much like shepherd’s huts, living vans, huts and wagons would have been commonplace in the English countryside during the early 20th century, the major difference being that most shepherd’s huts had a footprint of around 12’ by 6’6”, which we still honour today, while mobile accommodation spaces came in many shapes and sizes depending on its agricultural or industrial use."
 

 

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Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Shed Box of Delights: Treehouse on a crane

The excellent Sawday's Canopy & Stars accommodation specialist which features many shedlike places to stay is organising something very special on Bristol's harbourside, what they claim is 'the world's first treehouse on a crane'.

Canopy & Stars at Crane 29 will be a treehouse, available for bookings, suspended in the air or as C&S put it: "We’re taking all the goodness of the outdoors and putting it into a cosy cocoon of calm in the heart of the city to create a surprising, sensory experience and a true Natural High." Normally, its accommodation options are all in rural locations, so this will be its first urban showpiece.

The carbon neutral building is being put together in collaboration with B&Q and will only be open for bookings for four months, all profits from the enterprise going to Friends of the Earth. To book your berth, click here.
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Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

Brexit and garden buildings

Andy Guppy from The Classic Barn Company is encouraging garden office and other garden building suppliers to emphasise the quality of British craftsmanship as part of a #BestOfBritish campaign.

"The campaign is to rally around people like me," he told Shedworking, "small business owners who create something and encourage them to start to think positively about Brexit rather than waiting. Start reacting now and come out fighting to showcase what we do best. It's to trigger action and preparation now, where we all support one another. There has been, and still is a negative lull where business owners are ‘waiting to see what happens’ with Brexit. I say we should forget about what you can’t control and start dealing with what we can control.

"Get your product in the shop front and encourage customers to support British business owners by buying in this country, but also to reach out across the waters to other countries to show them what we're best at."

To this end, Andy has put together a special video extolling the virutes of The Classic Barn Company which specialises in crafted English oak-framed buildings - and which he says has already brought in interest from someone in Denmark wanting to sell the barns. ----------------------------------------------------

Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here

Tuinhuis: Garden office meets tiny house (video)

An excellent video from GoDownsize which underlines how the demarcation between garden offices and tiny homes is becoming increasingly blurred. Designed as a living space in Voorburg, The Netherlands, by Bloot Architecture, it is now being used as a super duper work space which includes a nifty kitchen and bathroom. Well worth a watch.

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Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning

How to build a garden office

A nice piece by The Garden Escape on their blog which contains a brief but useful step-by-step guide to how a garden office is put together in seven days looking at foundations going down, SIP panel and frame construction, roof structure, cedar cladding, adding doors, then applying the finish. Well worth a browse. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Shed Box of Delights: Interior wicker shedworking

Interior shedlike offices continue to appeal around the world. Here is one built by Estudio Normal in Buenos Aires for a chef which is made out of wicker. It's in the loft of his converted warehouse home and very much a working and relaxing space with a library vibe.
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Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.