Shock Horror - shed blog moves

the Google blogger platform has been great, but I have decided to give Wordpress a go, so the blog is now at

http://www.readersheds.co.uk/readersheds/blog/

you wont need to upadate your RSS feed plus I will point shedblog.co.uk to the correct URL

thanks and watch out for any problems!

Shedbuild : Erecting the shed

Following on the laying of the foundations article the other week, we have the 2nd part of the guide here.

"The last word in luxury - a garden shed? " of course it is

I missed this on Sunday, but posh hotels are now having sheds/shacks in their grounds so people can rough it for £195 a night!

Britain's most luxurious hotels have come up with a new way to excite jaded guests - sending them to sleep in sheds in the garden. 'Bothy Lodges' are small round wooden buildings with more than a touch of a Hobbit house about them, but hoteliers think they could have the sense of romance and occasion that guests are looking for.

The first hotel to have them is the Enterkine Country House, take a look after the leap to see the pictures... yes a nice shed, and you are more than welcome to pay me £195 a night to stay in my shed!!! just let me know!

Ikea - flatback housing

I blogged aboutthis ages ago, well now its coming true, according to the guardian

Last month, planning permission was approved for the first British BoKlok development: 36 flats in St James Village, Gateshead, due for completion by the end of the year. Each apartment, with two or three bedrooms, is expected to cost less than £100,000. More will follow - many more, probably, since BoKlok is quick to build, energy efficient and aimed at households earning between £15,000 and £30,000 a year. Who's to stop them?

form boingboing

Easter shed offers

Hopefully you will be out in the garden this Easter and pottering in the shed, or even building your own.

Of course you could always buy an off the shelf one from the DIY lot.

They have the following offers (affiliate links) for the Spring

B&Q DIY.com - Wavenley Left Hand Garden Room -Save £1316.72

Argos - Save up to a third

Shedstore - Windsor Shiplap High Eaves Save £80

Taylors Garden Buildings Overlap Economy Apex Shed 8'x6' Save £70

Trimetals - Titan 108 Save £95.01

Shed security message from the old bill

The police forces around the contry are giving their annual shedsafe notices, its mostly the same message, but worth keeping note of

There are a number of simple steps that can be taken to prevent shed crime:

• Make sure your shed or garage is sturdy. If not, make this a priority and improve the fabric of the building.



• Fit a quality lock on the door



• Make sure any windows are secured. Consider fitting a grille or bars to prevent access. Fit a blind or net curtains to stop would-be thieves from looking inside.



• Postcode all property such as cycles, lawnmowers, hedge trimmers and garden furniture by engraving, stamping or even painting. Visually marked property does have a deterrent effect upon the thief.

My favourite headline is "Prevent The Shedache of Becoming a Victim of Crime" from West Yorkshire.

Nothing on the North Wales police site, but an intresting story of a shed being torn down.


Any heres some of sources so you can keep an eye on your local bobbies wossname

Lock up your sheds warn police - Avon and Somerset

Prevent The Shedache of Becoming a Victim of Crime, West Yorkshire

Garden Wise - South Yorks

The MET

West Midlands Police - Garden Security

Fife Garden Security

Gloucestershire


West Mercia Constabulary

or use the shedsearch to find more

The price of sheds to rise?

David Smith of the Sunday times has a good bit on the price of sheds, a bit wossname for a lowly sheddie like me, but the more cerebral sheddies may understand it.

Shedbuild : Lay the foundations

Good little article on building a shed series, hopefully I can get more for readersheds.

Voodoo shed

Our strange world reports about a shed with a difference.

Within what looks like a simple garden shed — a place where most people might ordinarily store a lawn mower — small red lights are pinned to a low-hanging ceiling, and a humble altar is stocked with symbolic favors people leave for the spirit, including alcohol, folk art and a pipe.

Railway carriage used as shed, now for community

Milton Keynes today (the other day) reports on a Great old shedlike railway carriage

A railway carriage that has stood in someone's back garden for over a century is to be given a new lease of life as a community hall in Wolverton.

The history-steeped carriage - which comes complete with an original 'Do Not Spit' sign - was the pride and joy of a railway works employee, who used it as a garden shed for 50 years.

'Anyone seen our garden shed?'

A New Zealand, couple is totally wossnamed as their garden shed was stolen from their new property, before it was even completed, the times from nz reports.

“It wasn’t complete but the wall panels were screwed together and leaning against the fence,” the Howick husband says.

The pair, who doesn’t want to be named for fear of further building site thefts

They had instructed their builder son to put the 2.8 x 2.8metre galvanised steel shed together last Monday afternoon.

“He and his workmate had done the floor, but the side panels wouldn’t fit. So in the afternoon they left it leaning against the fence and went back to the shop,” he says.

After being told the manufacturers had labeled the instructions incorrectly, the builders planned to return and finish the shed on Tuesday morning.

Clocks forward = theft from sheds

The cotswold journal rightly are giving warnings

"Sheds are a favourite target for criminals because many can be broken into relatively easily and they often contain expensive items such as lawn mowers, power tools and bikes. Shed owners should make them more secure by investing in metal grilees for windows, reinforced hinges and strong locks and shed alarms.

of course if I was that way inclined, I would say you can win some shed security right here.!! ;)

Shed or Treehouse or both

Saw this great shed on a nice walk in chepstow on Sunday, it's been put up on a platform and looks great, could not get any closer.

Shed security

Co-operative Insurance has done one of those weekly survey/info things that go on the news and tell us what we need to know about Garden security, but one of things they are telling you to be aware of is, shed security they suggest which is quite good -

"Try to screen your shed’s windows, so thieves cannot see what is stored in there "

But how would you do this if you have a potting shed and used the window as a sun trap, of course you could cover it up at night, but when on one is there in day (when the best of the sun) then ho hum..

WE support national shed week - Do you?

We all know about St paddys day, april fools day and the rest, but the PR agencies are getting in big time with made up weeks/months for their products or causes, such as national chip week, National Pet Month, Be Nice to Nettles Week, International Bog Day and National Allotments Week, of course some a lot of them are very worthy to get people interested in going out and about and doing something new.

Alas there is no longer a national shed week, in the states there is national shed month, but this seems to be just an advert thing, and our old friends at transglobal did mention National Shed Day (May 28) on their great calendar.

So Iam looking to try get a national day/week of the shed, back on the agenda, I was thinking maybe 03-July as it was the birthday of readersheds.co.uk, but maybe the birthday of some famous sheddie?

what do you think? YOU CAN NOW SIGN A PETITION ONLINE

Librarian set up shed death trap

A terrible story about a librarian from uckfield.

A depressed librarian set up an intricate death trap at his home to blow himself up, an inquest heard.

He doused the inside of his garden shed with petrol and set the timer on an electric heater.

He then swallowed sleeping bills and alcohol before sitting back and waiting for the building to go up in flames.

Full story here

Charlotte Hatherley, The bloke from XTC and a shed

Its being reported that foxy Charlotte Hatherley(of course formally from Ash) has co-wrote one track, Dawn Treader, for her new record, with XTC’s Andy Partridge in his garden shed.

she says via the Sunday Times “I was actually sitting there with one of my heroes, and he’s screaming these lyrics at me. He’s been a bit of a big brother actually, similar to Captain Beefheart with PJ Harvey. Just phone calls, you know: ‘Give me a call whenever you like.’ And because he’s a bit of a recluse, he’s a big chatterer.”

Now all I need is to get him to share his shed, and get her to send us a signed photo, anyway both would be cherised.

You may not know it but garden sheds are very popular in the music industry, we have a couple of top artists on the site already, the lovely Polly Paulusma, the genius that is Chris Difford, the shed (from cork) and of course Chocice (the greatest cabaret band in the world)

If you are a Musician or any music making person, and you recorded your latest disk in your shed or your shed was a big influence on you and your music, please Share your shed.

Garden offices = Posh Sheds or Just Posh Owners?

As we all know that garden offices are the biggest thing this year(as in they have gone mainstream) and the prices seem to be coming down a lot, I would love to work from home, but alas I can't, but I can run readersheds from the shed, so thats ok.

Theres better blogs to explain the joys of garden offices and home working, but I think you can turn your normal shed into a Office in the Garden.

As you know I'm no expert (just a shedfan, with a lack of building skills)

I see it that you just need 2 things

1) Electricity
2) No Damp in your shed

If you think you need more please let me know!

A lot of the big shed companies are doing the specialist garden buildings as well as their normal range of proper sheds.

For instance B & Q (DIY.com) are going 15% off garden offices at the moment, and Taylors Garden Buildings do a great selection, plus shedstore do similar models

sheddie DIY and the 50 grand hole

The sun reports that "DIY disaster Stephen Lynch dug 200 tons of earth out of his back garden to build a SHED — and now faces a £50,000 bill to put it all back."

Hapless Stephen, 41, said: “It just kept getting bigger. I decided I wanted two big outbuildings rather than a little shed, so I bought an £18,500 mini digger to make it easier.

“Then I thought I should get value for the money and go down even deeper to make basements for the buildings. I’ve been working 13-hour days for eight months. The earth was taken away in around 40 wagon loads.

sheddiespace - manspace?

Well you know we have always been ones to allow men or women to share their spaces and mostly they are sheds or the like, but this bloke has written a book on the manside of the spaces.

This is what he says.

"Men, you’ve surrendered your space. You lifted your feet and saw your freedom of expression vacuumed right out from under you. The room where you kept your stuff – where you didn’t need coasters or even a garbage can? It’s a laundry room. Or a sewing room. Or a nursery."

He also has a great site, where hopefully some of the shed ones will share with us soon.