Statement sheds: the latest garden trend

Today’s guest post introduces a whole new side to the humble garden shed.  Enjoy!

Sheds: a British passion and tradition we already know, but a fashion trend and the latest must have accessory – are you serious?

Just a few years ago, you would never have believed that the next big, must-have fashion trend was the humble garden shed, and a television programme dedicated to them would draw in millions of viewers every week. If you had been told that young people up and down the country would get married in one, you would have had serious concerns and been forgiven for suggesting they were overdoing things, that they needed rest and were clearly suffering from some sort of hitherto unknown medical condition.

However, fast-forward to today, and Channel 4 producers were positively inundated with entries for this year’s Shed of the Year competition, and there’s a waiting list as long as a whole line of sheds for the next series. This year a record 2,500 shed junkies entered the competition, and if you thought it all just a silly bit of fun, you ought to think again.

As lovers and purveyors of fine sheds and garden buildings, Birstall online garden centre  have always known they’d catch on and were the next best thing. They said they were destined for much more than just storing garden tools, and anything else that did not have a home of its own. So, they’ve added a new range of ready-to-go buildings and are proud to partner HSP, manufacturers of hand-crafted beautiful summerhouses, gazebos, and garden rooms.

‘Sheddies’, not to be confused with the popular breakfast cereal, is a word soon to be included in the Oxford English dictionary – or at least should be. They take their passion/love/obsession seriously, with many sheds now running into many thousands of pounds. Indeed, if some were advertised as holiday lets you’d have to book up early to avoid disappointment.

The Shed of the Year competition once again is split into seven main categories:

• Normal sheds
• Eco sheds
• Garden offices
• Cabin and summerhouses
• Unique sheds
• Workshops and studios
• Pub sheds

Shed of the Year showcases the best of British sheds and invites ‘sheddies’ up and down the country to enter this whacky and endearing competition for a chance to be crowned ‘Shed of the Year’ and win £1,000 courtesy of sponsors Cuprinol. And while a grand is a pretty useful amount, it wouldn’t go anywhere near enough to buy the creative masterpieces shown each week.

There’s a lot to be said for the satisfaction one gets from standing back and admiring a job well done – but if you don’t have the inclination, long hours, box full of tools, and skills needed to make your own shed/summerhouse, just cut to the chase and checkout the fantastic garden havens manufactured by HSP garden buildings and available at Birstall.