LOCKDOWN DRINKIES IN A £40,000 LUXURY ‘SHED’

ANNA MUSKETT, 48, is the owner and director of a laser clinic and lives near St Albans, Herts, with her fiance, Martin Quirke, 53, who owns a construction company. They have five children between them, aged 16 to 25. She says: Our little in-joke is to smile at each other and say: ‘Do you fancy going down the pub?’

Of course, we can’t go to the local pub — but we can skip outside to the huge garden room bar that Martin designed and built after we bought our fivebedroom, 1930s house five years ago.

Affectionately known as ‘the shed’, it’s anything but. The huge oak-framed building cost £40,000, measures 11m by 4.5m (36ft by 14 ft 7 in) and houses Martin’s office at one end, the bar and games room in the middle — including snooker table, sofas, 80in TV and karaoke machine — and a shower room.

The bar is bijou but beautiful and was inspired by one Martin built for a friend — theirs has a ski lodge vibe.

It’s about 2 m (6 ft 6 in) wide and made from reclaimed wood with floating shelves against an illuminated backdrop so the bottles lined up on them really stand out.

There are wine fridges, an ice machine and a cocktail maker, as well as two velvet bar stools — perfect for date nights. It really is luxurious.

Huge doors open out onto the garden, where there are zoned seating areas for entertaining.

Martin is chief barman but, when we’re allowed, my best friend and her partner love to come over and indulge their flair for making cocktails.

My favourite is an espresso martini, while Martin’s a whisky lover.

We’ve livened up many a lockdown Friday or Saturday night by getting dressed up and heading off to our bar.

And if we happen to have one too many, we need only stagger back up the garden to bed!