A great place to write a classic...
A SHED is traditionally used for storage, but it can be adapted into a secret hideaway where you can try your hand at writing a book or learning a new hobby.
Children’s author Roald Dahl built a modest 6ft x 7ft hut at the bottom of his garden in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, to escape being disrupted by his children.
Dahl had been inspired by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, who was at his creative best working in his shed.
Other successful authors who used a shed to write include Virginia Woolf and playwright George Bernard Shaw.
Sheds can also be great places to indulge in a hobby other than writing – perhaps being turned into a workshop.
Robin Sharples, 51, from Rossendale in Lancashire, has given his shed a name – Cowpe Smithy. Having had three kidney transplants since the age of 14, he struggled to fulfil his lifelong ambition of becoming a blacksmith – so he built a shed and forge so he could learn the skills at home.
Robin salvaged corrugated iron from a military surplus dealer – paying just £20 for the heavy-duty metal that had originally been earmarked to shore up trenches in the First World War. He spent £500 on timber and other materials to build the 12 ft square shed in three months.
He now uses it to house some of the 150 blacksmith anvils that he has collected over the years. He has also installed a forge that he can heat up to 1,400°C to indulge in his blacksmith craft.
Robin, pictured below, says: ‘I am now able to live my dream. It is a wonderful hobby and the tools are so tactile and have changed little since Roman and Viking times. Having a shed helps inspire you to create.’
He shares the skills he has learned, offering day courses for £135 and selling home-made items such as candle holders.