Comment: Ready, shed, go! Embracing the outdoor room trend

Property trends come and go, and one thing that’s definitely more fashionable now than ever is the outdoor office/eco-shed/log cabin.

Formerly known as the humble shed, the tools and bikes have had to be parked elsewhere in many on-trend gardens, to make way for MacBooks and ergonomically designed chairs.

Only a couple of months ago, Richard Burton wrote in these pages about the rise and rise of the modern garden office.

Home-working is on the increase, and with space in many of our houses in short supply, the garden’s often the ideal (or only) place to create a workspace.

Given the wealth of versatile shed options now on the market, I feel a bit ashamed to admit that mine is still very much a home for bikes and tools and not a lot else. That could well be about to change, however.

Because now there’s a Haynes guide that can help even the most non-practical of people make ‘their dream shed a reality’.

Anyone over a certain age will associate the publishing brand with car manuals, but these days they cover a crazy range of topics, with recent titles including Pensioners, Zombie Survival and Vegan Man.

It’s the aptly-named Shed Manual that we’re interested in, however, with its guide to ‘designing, building and fitting out your perfect shed’. It’s the stuff of dreams for many a so-called ‘she shed’ or ‘man cave’ fancier, and we have a local chap to thank.

St Albans-based author and journalist Alex Johnson is something of a shed expert, who runs a popular blog on the topic, www.shedworking.co.uk.

From your standard 8’ x 6’ special to the niche delights of the rotating shed (seriously) or shepherds’ hut, this book’s got the lot, with plenty of idiot-proof pictures to guide you along the way.

Only problem is where to put the original mess of scooters and garden tools.

A spare shed, maybe? One can never have too many.