GUESTS FLIP A COIN FOR WHO SLEEPS IN £20,000 HIDEOUT

HOuSeWiFe Cherry Morris, 45, and her husband Andrew, also 45, an accountant, live in Oxfordshire with their daughters Holly, nine, and Sophie, seven. they bought their hut last August. She says: WHeN the children were tiny, our home in an old listed barn seemed perfect — but as they got older we realised we needed more space.

We were desperate to keep them away from tablets and screens but didn’t want them messing up the house with clay or paint. At the same time we are a sociable family and often need more than one spare bedroom when we have guests visiting.

We looked into building an extension on the house, but as well as costing around £200,000 it would require planning permission, which is by no means guaranteed on an old building.

Last spring, as I wandered around our local garden centre just outside Abingdon, I came across a display involving shepherd’s huts. It seemed like the solution to our problem. At around £20,000 in total they weren’t cheap, but far less than any extension.

We ordered one from Red Sky Shepherds Huts, the company that also supplied David Cameron, and at the same time chose the Farrow & Ball paints, old White and Point- ing, in which it’s decorated, as well as a log burner and a lovely pull-out bed. It arrived in August and we put it at the side of the house, on what we call the croquet lawn (we only play when we’ve had a few drinks).

We’ve divided it into two sections. one side has the double bed, where guests can stay, and there’s a log burner in the middle of the room.

At the other end is my grandmother’s dining room table with all the clay and craft bits for the girls.

the girls are desperate to sleep outside but I can’t face it quite yet, as I know I’ll have to be with them and it won’t be very relaxing! But they love to spend time in here.

So far we’ve had four couples to stay and they’ve all loved the peace and quiet — if we have two couples at the same time, they flip a coin to see who goes in the hut!