New beach huts improve Southsea accessibility

Portsmouth's first accessible beach huts have been installed on Southsea seafront by Portsmouth City Council which says the event marks "a significant step towards inclusivity and accessibility at the beach".

Available for booking through its Seafront Services, these specially designed beach huts are equipped with amenities including a kettle, fridge, cupboard, deck chairs, and decorative items, ensuring a comfortable and enjoyable experience for all visitors.

Key features of the accessible beach hut include an accessible path leading down the beach towards the sea, and ramps providing entry from the promenade into the beach hut.

Laura Collinson from the Accessible Beach Campaign group said: “I’m so pleased that Portsmouth City Council have installed these accessible beach huts. Our campaign group has been asking for better access and it’s great to see the results. The shingle beach makes access to the water extremely difficult but we are working towards making this happen with the PCC seafront team."

Cllr Pitt, Leader of Portsmouth City Council said: “It’s great to be able to offer these accessible beach huts. Through these projects we are making sure that when people need additional help to live their lives, it is there for them. This is a really important step into making Portsmouth accessible and inclusive for all."

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Monday posts are sponsored by Cosy Garden Rooms, the UK's No. 1 bespoke garden room designer and builder. 

 

Friday Finery: garden room with cantilever canopy

The Shedworking team has been admiring the look of this garden office from BGR Designs all week. Yes, it's got a rather nice corner bifold and door, but it's the canopy design extending over the decking area that's been impressing us with its copper rain chain detail. 

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

 

Bespoke artist’s studio in Cambridge

Another good example of how small spaces are as good for garden offices as enormous ones. This insulated bespoke artist's studio comes from Cosy Garden Rooms, and measures 3.5m x 2.1m. As you can see, inside there is plenty of space for a desk, easel, comfortable chair, an storage for artist supplies. A roof lantern gives the room loads of natural light, and outside a green roof offers an eco-friendly feature.

The exterior has a two-tone colour scheme, Monetary Taupe to the front and left, Anthracite on the back, right, and footer. There's also a 300mm overhang. Inside, there are white grooved walls, and light grey laminate flooring plus a discreet wall-mounted infrared heater.

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master, bespoke garden rooms and offices designed, manufactured and installed throughout the UK

Cabin Master and Arctic Cabins partner British Speedway

Nottingham-based BBQ Cabin manufacturer and installer Arctic Cabins and Cabin Master have become Premiership Partners with British Speedway for the coming season.

Arctic Cabins has a long history of involvement in speedway, from sponsorship of Youth riders through to fully-fledged Premiership stars. In 2022 they sponsored Great Britain in the FIM Speedway of Nations, before starting a full-scale partnership arrangement in the following season. That support will now extend to the British Speedway Premiership.

Managing Director Gareth Parkinson said: “We’re really excited about our new partnership with the Premiership, building on the relationship we have established with the GB Speedway Team. We know how much determination there is to see the sport move forward, and we’re looking forward to being a part of that.”

Like sister company Arctic Cabins, Cabin Master which specialises in bespoke garden offices and garden rooms, has been fully supportive of speedway at all levels over recent years.

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by Booths Garden Studios, the UK's No.1 supplier of zero maintenance and portable garden studios

 

Xavier Herbert: shedworker

Xavier Herbert was one of Australia's leading 20th century novelists, the author in 1975 of Poor Fellow My Country, weighing in at 1,463 pages, making it the longest Australian novel (and of course by default the longest Australian novel written in a shed).

He lived for much of his later life in a cottage called Redlynch in Cairns, in the back garden of which was a shed which he built himself, known as "million dollar dog house". Here is how Lynette Warwick, member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Barron River, described it in the Australian Hansard in a speech on April 30, 1996:

"Xavier Herbert built a shed in which to write, while not away at writers' camps around Kuranda. It was an unpretentious iron structure, which local residents say was made from two small sheds taken from the Kuranda railway and moved on a rail car to Redlynch. The shed was reputed to contain a tool bench, some spartan luxuries, a camp stretcher, a deck chair and a low table on which he wrote using an ancient Remmington typewriter. There is also an electrical gadget of his own invention supposed to keep him awake... Poor Fellow My Country was typewritten in the shed."

Sadly it was demolished the summer of 1995. The photo above shows Herbert in April, 1938, on the day he found out he had won the Sesqui Centenary Library Prize. It may have been taken inside the shed. 

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Monday posts are sponsored by Cosy Garden Rooms, the UK's No. 1 bespoke garden room designer and builder. 

 

Friday Finery: Shepherd's hut shop

The Homely Bee is a small home decor and gift business run by husband and wife team Tony and Sally-ann in Staffordshire. They sell online but also have a bricks and mortar shop in the shape of this lovely shepherd's hut in Eccleshall.

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

Garden office with green roof

One of the key claims about green roofs - other than their eco-credentials - is that by adding them to your garden office it then blends into the natural surroundings far better. This Workroom model from Little Garden Offices in Cornwall is additional proof of that fact.

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master, bespoke garden rooms and offices designed, manufactured and installed throughout the UK