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People often weigh up the pros and cons of a garden room against an extension. While it's obvious which side Shedworking sits on for this debate, we asked the fine folk at Cosy Garden Rooms for their expert thoughts.
There is no structural reason that anything you do in a brick-and-mortar home can’t also be done in a well-built garden room.
Annual data from the price comparison site Reallymoving shows the average cost of moving is now more than £14,000. You’ll need to pay upfront fees, stamp duty and legal expenses. There are also costs closer to your moving date, including removal vans, packing materials and cleaning. Plus, many homeowners love their home, its location, the family is settled at work, in school; so many people choose to extend their home rather than move.
Some of the most popular ways to extend your home include building a conservatory, a loft conversion, garage conversion, an extension or garden room.
A garden room is a building that is detached from the main home in your garden but is built to high standards; this includes full insulation, electricity, lighting, windows, doors, etc. that provides a fully insulated comfortable living space that can be used all year round; it is not a summer house or posh shed.
The first thing to decide is what do you need extra space for?If you are looking for a quiet area away from the distractions of the main home, a garden room could be the perfect solution; an office or work space, a room for the kids, an artist studio, somewhere to operate your business from, a gym, a music room, a games room. The beauty of garden rooms is that they are extremely versatile, flexible spaces. If you are looking for a larger kitchen or more bedrooms and bathrooms a built extension is likely to be a better option.
Image courtesy Cosy Garden Rooms.
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This appealingly-fronted log building comes from Scandinavian Homes and is their Moisala model. It's originally built to be used as a sauna but SH do say that "with minor tweaks it would make a great home office". It's the unusual circular opening to the covered terrace that caught our eye.
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This was the full-sized Conker design, but there are several others in smaller iterations (not all of them fully spherical), a mini-igloo, a kind of sliced Conker, and as pictured above a single person meeting pod which is perhaps more of a teardrop than a conker but still looks delightful.
Designed and manufactured in Cheshire, all Conkers are constructed from 100% recycled materials where possible, and the rest are 100% recyclable. It's properly insulated, double glazed, and comes with a host of options including wet room with shower, lavatory, kitchenette, bench seat with storage, off grid models, underfloor heating, ventilation system, air filter, and entry/exit steps.
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Readers with fine memories will recall we previously mentioned this play Men Don't Talk constructed in collaboration with the Scottish Men's Sheds Assocation a couple of years ago, so we're delighted to be able to let you know it's up, running, and touring. For more details click here. Here's what they say about it:
Three men who have never met before find banter, bird boxes and biscuits in a fictional men's shed, which celebrates camaraderie, companionship.....and custard creams. Men Don't Talk explores and explodes the myth that 'men don't talk' in Clare Prenton's poignant, hilarious and deeply moving, thought provoking play. Written following cups of tea, cake and spirited conversations with real ‘shedders’, the play welcomes audiences into a friendly fictional shed, inspired by real mens’ stories.
Here are the touring dates:
* 18 October | An Tobar & Mull Theatre | Isle of Mull
* 19 October | Bunessan | Isle of Mull
* 23 October | Lantern House Arts | Cumbernauld
* 25 October | Heart of Hawick | Borders
* 26 October | Eastgate Theatre | Peebles
* 29 October | Scottish Parliament | Holyrood
* 30 October | The Lemon Tree | Aberdeen
* 2 November | Flotta | Orkney
* 3 November | Burray | Orkney
* 5 November | Stenness | Orkney
* 8 November | The Barn | Aberdeenshire
* 14 November | Paisley Arts Centre | Paisley
* 16 & 17 November | The Scottish Storytelling Centre | Edinburgh
* 19 November | Victoria Hall | Cromarty
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One of the many knock-on effects of the decision to call a general election in early July is that the UK Men's Sheds awards organisers have decided to push the dates of the competitioon back. Here's the full announcement from CEO Charlie Bethel:
"Following the announcement of the Prime Minister on Wednesday to call a General Election, the country enters Purdah and a dissolution of parliament for the 25 days leading to the General Election.As such the Speaker’s State Rooms are no longer available for the Shed of the Year Awards. As such we will postpone Shed of the Year to the autumn as we hope to move the event and not lose such a prestigious venue fitting for our Awards.
"All nominations will remain and you can still submit them to the deadline. We will reopen nominations for a short time when we have a new date. As you can imagine this is out of our control, but we thank you for your efforts so far in such amazing nominations. Our very best wishes and we look forward to welcoming you to ShedFest which will certainly be going ahead."
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Large congratulations to Hartley Botanic whose 2024 RHS Chelsea Flower Show tradestand pictured above (‘Simple Elegance – A Traditional English Garden’) has been awarded five stars. Although they are a glasshouse and greenhouse manufacturer, the stand showed that it's possible to introduce a little garden office flavour into their builds. Not visible here, but the company also launched their new attractive water butts at the show.
Tom Barry CEO of Hartley Botanic said: “We are thrilled with our 5* award from the RHS. We are extremely proud of this year’s tradestand which with our amazing greenhouses, its beautifully curated plantings, curved borders, and luxury styling exudes quality, sophistication, and elegance.”
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