Garden gym man cave

 

Home gyms have taken off in much the same way as garden offices over the last decade and here's a fine example, built in Henley-on-Thames by Norwegian Log. It's owned by Richard Lawrance, a keen marathon runner and fitness enthusiast, who calls the silvery 6m x 4m space his 'man cave' - it features a sauna, weights bench, darts board and pool table, as well as double bi-fold doors. Richard says he has used his running machine "instead of training along the river in the miserable weather. I opened up the gym’s wide doors, put the music on, and it was almost like running outside without getting wet.

“I couldn’t live without the building now. I’m just delighted as it’s such a versatile space. If I’d had a gym in the garage it would have been cold and horrible. This is self-contained, away from the house and I can go and lose myself in there if I want to."

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Win a personal visit to Cressida Cowell's writing shed

Here's a cracking competition for shedworkers. The National Literacy Trust is running a Gala Auction (bidding on items to close at 10pm next Tuesday, March 29) to raise funds for their very worthy work "changing the life stories of the most disadvantaged children in the UK. Through literacy we provide a route out of poverty."

The winner of this item will get to virtually meet writer Cressida Cowell (author of the How to Train Your Dragon and The Wizards of Once books) via a private Zoom call. She will give you a virtual tour of her writing shed which we regularly feature here on Shedworking as well as chat about her work and current projects. More details at the National Literacy Trust.

Delighted to show the winner of this Gala auction round my writing shed! All proceeds to the wonderful @Literacy_Trust https://t.co/65XA87XuvY

— Cressida Cowell (@CressidaCowell) March 25, 2022

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

 

Garden studio design inspired by Gaudí

Here's one from the drawing board that we're looking forward to seeing in real life. It's a garden office designed by Shape Architecture that has been just been given the green light from the planning folk. It will eventually be located at the top of a steep garden owned by a carpenter who has an interest in the work of Catalan architect Antoní Gaudí, celebrated by Shape in the Gaudíesque roof shaping.

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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.

Karin Celestine: shedworker

Karin Celestine is the creative force behind Celestine and the Hare. From her garden office shed in her back garden in Monmouth, Wales - crowdfunded by supporters and built by Garden Affairs - she makes needlefelted woollen creatures which she sells online and in galleries, and runs popular needle felting workshops. She also produces stop motion animations of them and writes about them in a growing range of children’s books published by Graffeg. Here's what she says about her work:

I love the inbetween, that is where I am most happy, in myself as a mixed heritage non binary person and in my work combining art and science, and in my worlds I create where real meets fairy tale and folklore. I have a love of the magical worlds that exist just out of the corner of our eye, the idea that creatures are going about their every day business, watering their flowers, reading books in the woods,

Karin calls her space 'Shed of Glory', a wonderful name. Here's what she says about it:

"It looks like a little Swedish red house on the outside. Inside the wood feels so lovely to be around. It is so easy to put up shelves or hooks. It is warm and cosy, The doors and windows all work and are double glazed but there is something cosy about being in a small wooden space. I have all my stuff around me, pictures on the walls.. I just love it so much. And I’m planning on a green roof for it too so it will be helping the wildlife as well as making me happy inside.

Here's an example of her work, The Lightbringers, the first in a four-part series called Tales of the Turning Year, based on the seasons, nature and folklore.

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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.

 

Kate Silverton: shedworker

My Haven, Kate Silverton in the garden office of her home in London https://t.co/HEHznLUt9Q

— Nahid Alaei (@NahidAlaei) March 19, 2022

An interesting look at television presenter Kate Silverton's garden office in the Daily Mail. The Shedworking staff are always rather doubtful about these things because celebrity garden offices always seem to be remarkably tidy and include slightly odd placements (such as the books shelved cover out), but still worth a look - essentially she focuses on photos of her family, royalty, and a lion, plus a childhood swimming trophy (again in a strange location) and some objects she uses during her retraining as a child psychotherapist.

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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

Garden office warning for shedworkers

Henshalls, which specialises in insurance for garden offices and other garden buildings, has warned that opportunist theives are increasingly targeting office sheds and outbuildings.

“With so many people working from home due to the Coronavirus restrictions, there has been a real surge in the search for separate office space," said Director Dave Williams, "and even though restrictions have eased, many employees will still be splitting their time between the office and home. And this trend has seen opportunist thieves step up their activities as they realise there is all kinds of technology and equipment stored in quiet and isolated buildings at the bottom of people’s gardens.”

Dave said most home insurance policies offered some level of garden cover, but not to the level of the true value of the items that a home office was likely to include. “Some insurance policies will cover items stored in sheds as standard, but with some firms there could be an extra cost to add them to your cover. Any items stored in a shed or garden office would usually be covered for theft under a homeowner’s contents insurance.

“But there is generally a limit as to how much you’ll be able to claim and under some policies, you will only be eligible to claim if the outbuilding was locked and you can prove entry was forced. You may want to consider a specific specialised shed working insurance policy that will cover every eventuality because figures have shown that it can take up to a month for a home-based business or shed worker to get fully operational again after being the victim of a crime.

“And of course, if you can’t work, you’re losing money which could lead to potentially critical cashflow problems. With the home working revolution that has taken place over the last two years, it’s important to have the right insurance cover in place to protect yourself and your business – don’t just assume your home insurance will be enough.”

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

 

Thoreau's Walden hut and climate change

An interesting piece of research on JSTOR Daily about the godfather of Shedworking, Henry David Thoreau, and what the Walden Pond location (picture above on a postcard) where he built his famous hut can tell us about climate change. Read the whole thing (nice and short) at the link above, but here's the key takeaway:

The research team identified tree and shrub species that Thoreau had taken notes about, then monitored when these species produced leaves. Before the study, the researchers did not expect to see a drastic change because these species were well-rooted and protected by the canopy in this location. However, after monitoring for five years they found that these species were universally leafing out approximately 18 days earlier than Thoreau had recorded.

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Sunday posts are sponsored by Henshalls Insurance, specialists in insuring garden offices and other garden buildings. Click here for more information.