Has anyone got a garden room or office whatnot that they'd like to tell me about?

[OneHundredSecondsofSolitude]

I have an embryonic idea. We've got a tumble down shed at the end of the garden. I'd like to replace it with a useable extra room, just for me to hang out in really. Somewhere to do my little projects away from our hectic house

Having had a quick google they seem to range from glorified sheds up to very expensive proper buildings

I'd like it weathertight and more sturdy than just a shed, but don't have loads of money

Clearly DIYing from a kit would save some £££ but just how hard would it be? And would it be flimsy and full of spiders like a shed?

And getting electricity in it, that sounds like a big job

Has anyone done something similar who could give me some tips or pointers?

We've got one - a cute sort of summer house with two sets of French windows and a deck to the garden. It was here when we bought the house. It has electricity but is not insulated.

When we moved here I had visions of DH using it as his office / music studio but that just hasn't happened. It is freezing cold for most of the year, and the windows are not very secure. He refuses to put his instruments in there and I don't blame him, as it is damp.

At the moment it is used as a storage shed for random furniture and bookshelves, and the kids use it as a play house when it's sunny. We can't decide whether to spend money on insulation, heating, and double glazing as we don't know if it would be worth it.

You can spend up to £30,000 on these things if you want something genuinely usable all year round. But I'd frankly rather have an extension if I was spending that! Depends if you have the money I suppose - a nice room to escape to sounds great!

I don't know why those kit ones are so bloody expensive - they're just glorified sheds. FWIW, my friend had one built in her garden recently as her yoga room (this is the sort of folly you can have if you don't have children ), it's about 2.4m by 4.5m, fully insulated, clad in cedar and has a shower room, it cost about 10k - she used her builder. So, while not cheap, a fraction of the price that the people who advertise in colour supplements choose to charge.

What about cob?

What about a BBQ hut? I know someone with one; door, glazing all round, chimney in the middle, comfy seating..10K though

Jazz I just saw cob ones

The more I think about it the more I like the idea of building my own. I've got grand designesque visions but it's more likely to end up looking like something more suited to a favela

See what you've said Fanny is my concern with the kit ones. I think it'd always be more of a shed than a room

I may look more closely at making my own. I'm quite handy and enthusiastic if a bit lacking in actual practical experience

I think the kits are always just nicer looking sheds!
We're looking at replacing an old workshop at the bottom of our garden - we're seriously thinking about cob - we have no experience of making anything like this but it's v v cheap and you can create some wonderful shapes with it. Also v thick walls so I'd imagine quite well insulated. Yet to fully research though.

these are the ones I was looking at

I think though cob is a regional thing isn't it? And we don't have it around here. I know I'd be buying it rather than digging mud out of my own garden but even so. It is sort if charming though