Shed of the Year, the annual awards which have been held for 17 years by Readersheds and sponsored by Cuprinol, has announced the 26 shortlisted sheds for its 2023 awards. There were 209 entries this year, and the shortlisted entries include a bee cafe and a surf shack. Public voting in each category is open until July 13th. The winner will receive £1,000 and £250 worth of Cuprinol products.
An A-frame ski chalet in Essex, a Japanese-inspired tea room in Bristol and a bee cafe in the Suffolk village of Great Bealings are just a few of the entries on the shortlist for the Shed of the Year 2023.
Categories include Budget, Cabin/summerhouse, Nature’s haven and Pub/entertainment as well as Simple but effective, and each shed has been given a name, many inventive puns, including one called Buckingham Pallets.
Head judge and founder of the competition, Andrew Wilcox, said: ‘We’re now in the seventeenth year of the competition, and each year I am always surprised and delighted by the level of creativity shown by our entrants.
‘Many have shown how they can create something masterful from reclaimed materials and on a budget. Equally, we have seen a lot of people go all out in an effort to build gorgeous garden escapes for them and their family.’
Marianne Shillingford, of Cuprinol, said: ‘My world revolves around colour, and seeing how people have been using it to transform their outdoor spaces has been really inspiring.
‘Colour does a lot to calm, energise, and bring people together, and I am constantly in awe of how these creative sheddies harness its power to create the perfect outdoor space.’
Cuprinol Shed of the Year 2023 Shortlist
1. The Frankenshed, London (Category: Colourful)
The Frankenshed in Greater London was built by Archie Proudfoot, as an old shed ‘brought back from the dead’. He said: ‘It was a standard eight by four timber shed that had been left to rot at the bottom of a neglected garden. When I began renovating it, the floor was 80 per cent rotten, so was the roof and so was the window sill. By all rights, it should have been torn down and replaced. But I saw the potential for something special.’
2. The Shed, Ulster (Category: Colourful)
This shed in Ulster was built by Dave Webber and is a colourful space where he can relax, watch TV, listen to music and store some of his motorcycles.
3. Head, Hearts and Hands Hut, Cambridge (Category: Simple but effective)
This shed in central Cambridge has been built by the community for the community, according to Charlotte Synge, who help lead the project.
It is built on Cambridge City Council land in Empty Common Community Garden.
Charlotte explained: ‘It is a shed for gardeners to relax in and make hot drinks etc. But crucially, it is a shed for people from groups in Cambridge who want to come together to work towards transitioning to a more sustainable and resilient future.
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4. The Tea House, Bristol (Category: Simple but effective)
The shed adheres to a simple format with meditation cushions and an authentic Japanese tea set
This Japanese-inspired tea room is at the end of a garden in Bristol.
It was built from recycled materials by Peter Lawson, who said: ‘A lot of the wood came from an old playhouse, rotten stuff cut out and replaced with pallet wood and old fencing found lying discarded outside strangers’ houses.
‘The only things I’ve paid for is screws, preservative and paint.’
5. The Nott Shed, Oxfordshire (Category: Simple but effective)
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This shed in Oxfordshire is named ‘The Nott Shed’ after owner Lisa Nottingham who describes it as her ‘sanctuary’.
She said: ‘My potting shed is my escape from a stressful job, a place where I can just relax and breathe.
‘It is where I can grow plants, sit and drink my coffee and listen to the birdsong around me. It is quite simply my happy place.’
