Shed of the year 2024, Sponsored by 
This shed is absolutely unique - designed by us and hand built from scratch by a brilliant builder/joiner friend to accompany our existing 'Hartley Botanic'greenhouse. Together, the two building frame our beautiful view - a panorama of our wild flower meadow with the Howardian Hills on the horizon beyond.
Every component of the shed was bespoke and specially made, except for the windows which were ordered from Hartleys, so that they matched those of the greenhouse. The principal material of the building is wood with green powder-coated metal strips and guttering added to reproduce the struts of the greenhouse. The roof spars are made from laminated outdoor plywood cut from sheets are covered with a single-ply grey membrane, which being slightly glossy (almost literally!) reflects the glass roof of the greenhouse. The whole building is on a brick base and has a concrete floor. It didn't go unnoticed at the design stage that visually the shed would also look a bit like a railway carriage and we decided to go with this idea - hence the curved shape of the interior roof being delineated by laminated hoops which frame the neat 'tongue-and-groove' boarded ceiling. So much for how it looks - can we just emphasise that this is a working shed - no disco balls or juke boxes in here! It's equipped with electricity and running water (our thanks to our 'local' for donating a splendid steel sink after their kitchen refurb!). It houses a wood- working bench, a stone-polishing lathe and storage cupboards for tools. Double doors at the field end of the building allow easy access for tractors, lawn mowers, rotavators and so on. So - it looks good, it works well and it's absolutely unique - what more could you ask of a shed?!
