Estate agents confirm garden offices add value to your property

An interesting article in the always shed-friendly Telegraph talks to various estate agents about the benefits of garden offices. Among those discussing the rise of shedworking is Bruce King, director of Cheffins who emphasises that in his experience most garden rooms are built as workspaces for freelancers and people working flexibly. He estimates an off-the-peg garden office adds around five per cent to the value of a property, but what he describes as “the smart, bespoke examples" could add more like10 per cent.

Roarie Scarisbrick from Property Vision points out that quality is king too, telling the newspaper that: “When they are badly insulated and covered in spiders, your heart sinks. If they are pristine, and plumbed and heated, and they actually have a use they can be very cool, that will certainly add value.”

Image courtesy Henley Garden Rooms -------------------------------------------------
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World Cup garden office (video)

Here's the team from Green Retreats enjoying the world cup action from their TG02 model with thanks to work from Stock + Bokeh for designing and producing the film. 

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Home gym by the sea

The increase in interest in home gyms has been one of the major trends over the last few years in the garden office building world. Here's a nice example of one from eDEN Garden Rooms which is in a garden on the sea front in Westgate, Kent.

"There was already an adjacent building which has visible silver down pipes," explained eDEN's Mia Walmsley. "To help them blend in with the new garden room, we kept all fascias to the same silver tone, which also provided a modern, sleek finish to this 4.5m x 3m gym space. As we were working with a very large garden, we included a double set of bi-foldable doors to open the space right up and make the most of this peaceful outdoor spot, and ideal for allowing plenty of ventilation for home workouts." -------------------------------------------------------

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Sedum roof for Staffordshire garden office

I'm writing about green roofs on garden offices for a forthcoming issue of The Idler and came across this rather nice short video showing off the possibilities from Riefa Green Roofs. Here's what they say about it:

Riefa supplied a sedum roof to a new garden office in Staffordshire. The installation is almost text book in that the flat roof has a perfect pitch for minimal drainage , the parapets are the perfect height at 50 mm , this being the optimum for preventing wind desiccation whilst allowing views of the fauna from the ground. The garden room is ideally positioned within the tree canopy to allow the full benefit of shade from full summer sun and the best of the winter light.

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New smart alarm for garden offices

ZeroVision from Verisure is a new smart alarm that expels a dense and bothersome zero-visibility fog to stop intruders in their tracks. It enables shedworkers to proactively protect their properties remotely in the event of a burglary and is proven to force intruders to abandon the premises immediately. The alarm is connected to Verisure’s Alarm Receiving Centre which means that the property is then protected while the police and Verisure’s security guard service arrive at the home or business premises. According to a YouGov survey, burglary costs the country's small businesses £2,000 a year on average, with a third of SMEs keeping equipment worth £10,000 or more on the premises.

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Terry Pratchett's Shed of Doom

In case you missed the most shedlike of Discworld's buildings at the Chalke Valley History Festival over the weekend, here is the key element pictured above. Based on drawings by Paul Kidby, designer of the Discworld book jackets, the shed is the work of Evil Harry Dread and comes in at 18ft high. Here it is being built:

Timelapse: Shed of Doom from Chalke Valley History Trust on Vimeo.

The show also included a recreation of Sir Terry's studio, known as The Chapel, inside Granny Aching's shepherd's hut.

Seen at the Chalke Valley history festival today, author Terry Pratchett’s wonderful shepherd’s hut. Just how an original should be. pic.twitter.com/6Q8lRS4ND3

— Plankbridge (@Plankbridge) July 1, 2018

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Garden office wildlife

A new study reveals what wildlife can be spotted - and identified - from garden offices and sheds around the country. The survey by Sykes Holiday Cottages indicates that while its peak population of 3.5 million has now dropped to around 280,000, the red squirrel comes in first place as the most commonly seen rare animal in the UK, with 45% of people having spotted one. The hedgehog is in second place with 44% and the tortoiseshell butterfly third with 33%. The roe deer (27%), otter (18%) and snipe (17%) make up the top six.

Far fewer were able to spot examples which are not household names, such as a ghost slug, blue ground beetle (most common in Cornwall) or New Forest cicada even though they are all native to the UK.   

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