IT’S SO PEACEFUL AND NICER THAN MY BEDROOM

Rachael and Rod lewis, aged 40 and 51 respectively, run the catering company Salt chef from their home near hay-on-Wye in herefordshire. They have four children: Megan, 21, cian, 16, Jonah, eight, and arran, five. They bought their hut this year. Rachael says: WITH four children and only four bedrooms in our old farmhouse, squeezing everyone in can be a real struggle. If everyone is at home and we have friends to stay, we sometimes end up sleeping in the sitting room.

Last year we found the solution: a shepherd’s hut. I remember seeing them in the Brecon Beacons as a child, and was always intrigued by them.

We bought ours from a company called Blackdown Shepherd Huts as a self-assembly, which cost around £12,000. We connected the electricity and decorated the interior ourselves, using natural materials.

I wanted to keep it minimalistic but in keeping with the rustic surroundings.

In total we paid more than £20,000 for

the hut and interior decoration but it was so worth the effort. One visitor called it ‘very Scandinavian’.

As well as using it as a spare room, we often meet business clients in the hut. Rod is a Michelin-starred chef and we now run our own catering company from home.

The two younger boys love the fact that I communicate with them using walkie-talkies if I’m out here and they’re in the house.

It is so peaceful, I prefer it to my own bedroom — and it really came into its own at Easter when my eldest daughter came home from teacher training with her partner.

She was over the moon to find herself in a cosy, spacious room away from the smaller children.