To not be impressed by Shepard's huts in gardens.

[SunshineSuper]

The sight of them is now giving me the rage. It feels like every garden in some areas has an elevated shed on wheels stuck in the corner. The early adopters sheds have a tatty bit of colour faded bunting attached.
No, I do not want to pay a premium to sleep in one on holiday. Cramped, ill thought out, not a quirky, cool, one-off experience.
YANBU Shepard's Huts are not impressive, they give me the rage too.
YABU Garden Shepard's Hut are adorable, get out the bunting, I'm envious.

YABU. I think they're lovely

It’s the price I don’t get for holidays - what is essentially a glorified shed with no toilet or shower and nowhere to put your suitcase and they are often more expensive than a nice B&B or self catering apartment!

I didn't realise that they were for holiday lets like a static caravan, I thought they were for large back gardens that you used for an extra room.

My friend has one and she runs a B&B. You can stay in the B&B or in the shepherds hut and have breakfast brought to you and shower in the main house. It looks nice but really tiny, cramped and expensive. Plus its literally in the middle of nowhere with no pubs or shops nearby (you would need a car because not even taxis go that far)

I didn't realise that they were for holiday lets like a static caravan, I thought they were for large back gardens that you used for an extra room

They can and are used for both of these things. They're a useful option for both because you don't need planning permission. With the recent trend for eco-friendly, minimalist holidays, alongside the rise of airbnb, they've grown a lot in popularity for holidays, for sure.

I know a family who have an original one, beautifully restored. Now that really is lovely

Op do you often get hung up on what others do and have? This just isn’t healthy. It doesn’t impact you. People can live as they choose.

I mean I can’t understand why anyone would wish an inflatable hot tub and plastic grass but I certainly have neither rage or mild annoyance about it. We all make different life style choices. It’d bad enough being judgey without going so much further and getting ragey too.

I've got my judgy pants hoisted right up. I'm still not convinced why I'd want to put a Farrow & Balled shed 2ft up on tiny wheels.

Op no one is asking you to.

Just because you don't understand the popularity of something doesn't really explain why you'd be annoyed that it's popular.

It's not just you though, OP. It's kind of a strange social phenomenon that the more popular something is, the more people who don't like it get irrationally irritated by it. Even when it doesn't affect them in the slightest. Somebody should do a study of that.

Two terrible aspects to them:

1. They're tacky
2. David Cameron has one (or two!)

Somebody should do a study of that

Generally it’s because They can’t afford that thing, it becomes a symbol of disposable income they don’t have. That someone else can afford that thing, an outward display of their wealth.l,it’s always expensive stuff That causes the rage.

Seldom do people get the rage about something they could afford, have the space for, and could have easily but choose not to. They may get disdainful or snobby, they call it tacky and put it down. But they don’t get angry.

Rage or annoyance is usually about something else. A twisted envy. Even though the person may not choose to have one even if they could, the fact is they don’t have the option. And it angers them others do.

This might not be true for the op, her reaction may be unusual, but generally if someone gets angry that some random has something, it’s because of something deeper.

I'm going to think about that Bluntness100.....

Generally it’s because They can’t afford that thing, it becomes a symbol of disposable income they don’t have. That someone else can afford that thing, an outward display of their wealth.l,it’s always expensive stuff That causes the rage.

I dunno. In some cases, sure. But it happens with intangible things too. People get more annoyed about James Blunt because he's popular. They get vitriolic about it! They wouldn't if he was just some niche singer with a small fanbase. Same with something like... The Marvel movie franchise. People rage about it more because it's so popular. You know what I mean?

If OP had only seen a couple of Shepherd's huts, she probably wouldn't have made a thread. For some reason it bothers her MORE because lots of people seem to like them right now. Like, that makes them more of an affront, for some reason.

I've seen lots in domestic gardens, several of my (more well off than me) NCT mates have them, as do some of my parents' (working class) neighbours...though they made them themselves/got their son in laws to make them etc.

They are probably a thing of the moment then, like having a hot tub and a lockdown puppy if they are in the garden, I guess people are wfh in them.

Yote, yes but celebs or movies etc annoying you is something very different I think than being angry because someone has something. Not sure what causes it to be honest,

Well that was interesting. I’ve never seen one.
I live in a holiday area with lots of people offering Airbnb from the home or their converted garage, but never a shed on wheels.
It obviously hasn’t come here yet.

Jesstan2
Thanks for the pic. Not knowing what a Shepherds hut is was driving me crazy. Don't love or hate them, just a bit meh 🤔

I'm not sure why it matters what people put in their gardens

I have my eyes on one for when I win the lottery. It will be mine only and very cosy and warm.

Why on earth would they enrage you?

In any case YABU for not checking the spelling of something you’re complaining so vociferously about.

For my retirement I plan to do a Miss Shepherd and move into one of these huts so I can open the doors, take a big breath of morning air, and fling bags of shit onto the owners lawn.

It doesn't matter what people put in their gardens but this is AIBU on an anonymous forum so I can voice things from the only depths of my soul without directly offending my PIL neighbours.

I think I dislike it because possessing or renting a shepherd's hut is often presented as a creative signal. You might buy a trampoline or hot tub or build a compost heap but a Shepherd's Hut is often a statement about your future creativity or thinking 'outside the box' to get that extra bedroom. No issue of Country Living is complete without someone setting up an elderflower cordial business or painting flowers on garden trowels from an $18,000 shed on wheels.

Since the number of suppliers has grown the quality is decidedly patchy. The under sized wheels on a bloated chassis, the poor detailing for withstanding the elements.
My biggest annoyance is that they are so far removed from an original Shepherd's Hut as to be an architectural abomination. None of the owners would put fake Cotswold stone cladding on their Victorian brick or fake Tudor leaded windows on their 1970s semi but I'm asked to admire a wheeled hut that is not fit for a Showman, a Shepherd or a Workman whilst they get snobby about the nearby caravan park.