Moving from a London office to a garden office

An interesting article in the Metro, an interview with Hereford-based Chris Giddins, who runs ecommerce promotion engine Uniqodo. Here's a snippet:

Before the crisis hit, Sarah and I would normally spend four days of the working week in London. We’d then travel back to our Hereford home on the weekends, working one day from there. As the whole team is now working from home, we’re back in the Hereford home full-time. We are incredibly lucky to have our office in the garden! We thought it would make sense to have this as we usually split our time between London and Hereford, so we built a small oak-framed out building last year. As we’re working from home full-time now, it’s amazing to have somewhere to keep work separate. I feel incredibly lucky to have this extra space and that we were already well set up to work remotely. Although, when we have conference calls I have to go outside or to the kitchen as my partner says I’m too loud!

It's worth reading the whole thing via the link above - at the end of the interview Chris adds that working from home has not only given him time to explore his local countryside, but has also "made me consider what the future of our London office might be as we haven’t really needed it and everyone’s been working well from home." ---------------------------------------

Sunday posts are sponsored by eDEN Garden Rooms. Stunning, bespoke high quality garden rooms, to suit your unique space and style

St Bride Library virtual wayzgoose

Some of you may know that Shedworking HQ is also home to an Adana printing press as the staff explore the delights of letterpress printing. This weekend St Bride Library in London is running a virtual wayzgoose (a kind of annual fair for printing enthusiasts). Among the attractions is printing guru Bob Richardson talking about letterpress from his shed, home of the equally venerable St Margaret’s Press.

Two Minutes of Type with Bob Richardson from St Bride Library on Vimeo.

For more information, you can follow St Bride Library on Twitter, use the hashstags #virtualwayzgoose and #twominutesoftype (which also work on instagram where you can see videos), and also head to their vimeo page. ------------------------------------------------------

Saturday posts are sponsored by woowoo waterless toilets, the best toilet for your garden office

Steve Coogan and Simon Farnaby find inspiration in their sheds

Simon Farnaby (Horrible Histories, Detectorists, Paddington) is the author of a new shed-ish children's book called The Wizard in my Shed which, it says here, will mix "laugh-out-loud action adventure, with a fun-filled magical, historical twist". Illustrated by Claire Powell it is due out in October this year and the second in the series in 2022.

Meanwhile, Steve Coogan's Alan Partridge is returning as the Norwich-based DJ in an 18-part podcast produced from his shed, called From the Oasthouse: The Alan Partridge Podcast. "All national treasures have a podcast", said Partridge. "If David Dimbleby has one, then of course I needed to make one. With this series, I want to give my fans an intimate view of who I really am. You may think you know me, but trust me, you have no idea what goes on behind closed doors at my podcast innovation studio."

The series will be on Audible from September 3 and a free episode will be available on Amazon Alexa between 6 and 12 June. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Garden office for children's homework sessions

Maybe a sign of things to come in this garden office by Norwegian Log for a family in London - rather than being used by the parents, it is specifically for the owners' Aizad and Sobia Hussain's teenage children who need somewhere quiet and comfortable for their homework and exam revision.

“We wanted an area for them to study, a thinking space, away from interruptions. We needed an urgent solution and we couldn’t wait to apply for planning for something like a basement. It also needed to fit with the style of the house,” said Aizad. “It just focuses the mind. Time somehow seems very slow as there are no disruptions. There’s a sense you are in a library. When I was at University I used to always go to the library to study and I wanted something similar.”

Features include a small decking area, air conditioning, and remote-controlled heater.

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master: garden offices and studios to fit any size garden. Top quality contemporary or traditional buildings.

Music shed

A really lovely music studio garden office from Campos Studios for a musician in Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada. It comes in at 48 sq ft.

Photos: Andrew Latreille

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Wednesday’s posts are sponsored by Norwegian Log Buildings  - Log cabins and garden buildings for a better quality of life. Click here for more details.

Building a garden office: parts 9 and 10

We've been following the garden office build by web designer and developer Jack McConnell for a year now as he chronicles it via a really excellent video diary. Here are parts 9 (adding the electrics and networking cables, fitting the insulation, and putting up a vapour barrier on the walls) and 10 (adding plywood walls, making holes for the electrical and networking boxes, and getting everything ready for painting). Both are absolute must-watches if you're going down the DIY garden office route.



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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

Irish housebuilder adds dozens of garden offices to its offering

Here's an indication of how garden offices are starting to become increasingly popular - Irish homes builder Cairn Homes is, according to the Sunday Times, planning to add in garden offices at some of its new sites. The paper says it is now putting out to tender for up to 200 garden offices a year. Here's a snippet:

“The pandemic has emphasised the importance of our homes and the environment we live in,” Cairn said. “As we embrace what we believe will be a transition to remote/home working and how we as a business address this, we are looking at the range of possibilities the home, its environment and leisure facilities can play in designing future developments. In this, we are considering external spaces and garden/office rooms and how we can showcase them as we reopen to viewings.”

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