The secret life of sheds
Roost magazine, for Lloyds TSB
Published on Wednesday May 26, 2010
We Brits have always loved our sheds. But there’s more to sheds than potting, says Chris Alden, as these sheds prove.
When is a shed not a shed? When it’s a Roman temple, a miniature pub, a writer’s retreat, a replica Tardis, a meditation area – or any of the many other creative looks and uses people are giving to what was once just the humble little hideaway at the bottom of the garden.
Each summer during “Shed Week”, Andrew Wilcox, “head sheddie” of readersheds.co.uk, organises a Shed of the Year competition. He says his website has “gone mad” in the past few years as sheds have become more fashionable.
The 2007 prize was won by a Berkshire shed converted into a Roman temple – complete with four plastic-fibreglass columns, mural panels and a mosaic table.
The winner in 2008 was a garden pub – with double doors that opened out to create an inside-outside drinking area for the summer months. The design even includes patriotic English bunting and a hammock.
Some creative “sheddies” have even modelled sheds on the Tardis – though sci-fi fans may be disappointed to find only garden tools when they open the police box door.
In fact, there are so many shed designs around that Wilcox, known online as Uncle Wilco, is open-minded about what constitutes a shed. “I embrace them all,” he says. “A shed is anywhere you go to escape, really.”
Others use sheds simply as an extra office space in the garden. Alex Johnson is the brains behind shedworking.co.uk, a blog for the growing band of people who work from their garden sheds.
When he moved back to the UK from Spain a few years ago, Johnson planned to work from home but didn’t have enough space in the house.
“We had a reasonably sized garden – so the obvious thing, rather than move and spend squillions on another house with an extra room, was to build a separate work office space in the garden.”
Working from a shed gives you freedom to choose a workspace to suit your taste and needs, suggests Johnson.
For example, if you have modernist taste, you can order a shed direct from Rooms Outdoor, whose “Cuberno” shed makes use of glass and straight lines, is inspired by the work of the pioneering architect Le Corbusier.
More futuristic designs include a tubular shed called TheOrb or a dome-shaped shed called The Pod, which includes a skylight and porthole for peeking out at your kids in the garden.
“Calling them sheds is a gross miscarriage of justice – they are separate buildings in themselves,” says Johnson, of the range of sheds on the market. “As well as doing a specific garden office, a couple of suppliers also market themselves as granny flats or general leisure buildings.”
But you can also go traditional – and order a shed in the style of a shepherd’s hut with wheels, from companies such as The Shepherd’s Rest.
“It might help with planning applications because it’s on wheels,” says Johnson. “It becomes more of a temporary building if it hasn’t got foundations.”
One of Johnson’s particular favourites is the Hertfordshire shed formerly owned by the playwright George Bernard Shaw – which was in many ways the perfect writer’s retreat.
“It was well ahead of its time,” Johnson says. “It had a special mechanism , so you could rotate it so that it was facing the sun, or the shade, or the house – or whatever. And he had a daybed in there.
“It’s nicely put together and in a pretty part of the garden. It’s an ideal solution, that one.”
Meanwhile, Uncle Wilco – who has coined the term “sheddies” to describe the fans who post pictures of their sheds on his website – is preparing for Shed Week 2010, which starts on July 5.
“It’s all about the sheds and it’s all about the sheddies,” he says. “It’s about having your own space – everyone’s unique and every shed is unique,” he says.
How to build a shed
Building a shed? First consider size, design and planning permission, says shed expert Alex Johnson, of ShedWorking.co.uk.
“Choose something that fits into the garden. You don’t want it too small, so you’re crowded for space – but you don’t want it too big, so that it dominates the garden too much,” he says.
“Think about whether you want a traditional shed, or something modern. Do you want a flat roof, or a living roof which has plants on it? Do you want a veranda? A separate section for storage of garden implements? There are so many possibilities.
“And think about planning permission,” he adds. “Planning authorities vary on how lenient they are. Talk to them first before you build anything or sign any contracts.”
- Alex Johnson’s book Shedworking: The Alternative Workplace Revolution is out on June 3.
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