I am a 42 year old professional jazz musician and song writer All my tours and lots of gigs and any work was cancelled due to lockdown so moved to my mums house to save money PI needed a place of my own to relax and work on my music and not feel like I have regressed back to being a dependant teenager so I started building a dream shed on my allotment PI am not allowed to sleep there but the shed transforms the allotment from a place to grow vegetables in nice weather to a place where I can hang out whatever the weather read practice guitar or work in my greenhouse PBasically a beautiful place to be alone or with friends and somewhere i can call my own and invite friends for a cup of tea outside PThe tower is fun and allows other allotment owners to see the time and my nephew and niece and the other kids on the allotment can sit up there giving some time for their parents to garden A magical place built with love and lots of recycled materials
It is the first building I have ever built - my building experience prior to this was making some shelves and building huts out of pallets. I visited an eco camp and was inspired by the huts they were living in made out of recycled materials.
I realised you did not need a degree or qualifications or even money to build something if you took time to ask people's advice, recycle materials and teach yourself.
The rooving is made from recycled Tetra-packs inverted and nailed down - around 450 in all.
Despite the other allotment owners have been full of praise and kind support the council say it must be a 'standard construction and properly manufactured' despite the fact that it is super sturdy and has concrete foundations! Basically they dont like that i recycled materials!
I am hoping some recognition in the shed of the year competition will save it because the council want me to take down the tower and remove the greenhouse.
Either way it was brilliant fun to make and i learnt so much and it has given me something fun and creative to live for during the tough times of unemployment during the pandemic!