Is This 8×4 Shed The One For Your Garden? Bespoke Options

It’s been a little while since Christmas although the weather has been more Christmas like only a few weeks ago as it was relatively mild at Christmas. For garden centres that period was extremely important as the sales of garden plants, garden tools and garden sheds are not on top of the purchasing agenda at that time. That is the time for Christmas decorations, Christmas special foods and gardening presents and, just, maybe a new 8X4 garden shed. From the start of November the garden centres are transformed onto delightful Christmasy areas to make us feel in the mood. Many garden centres will have a Father Christmas in a Grotto to attract the children and this is where the garden shed comes in useful again. Decorated up with streamers and Christmas lights and with a door hiding away Father Christmas children get excited about the ‘big man’.

With the large amount of stock arriving for this period a large area is required for storing these items and the large sheds out the back can play a role in this. This makes the shed feel a little less unloved and allows the shed to feel part of the Christmas festivities – at least that what it may feel if the shed was real, but of course it’s not. But then is Father Christmas real – that’s the question.

To ensure the largest number of visitors to the garden centres they employ various different schemes to encourage visitors to spend their money. To this end a garden centre in Cornwall had decided against the traditional choice of animal, the reindeer, and decided upon camels to make their garden centre stand out from the ‘norm.’. Trelawney Garden Centre took the view that this unusual choice would encourage festive shoppers to come to their garden centre in preference to others. Hopefully these will then spend their money on the many festive gifts, bargain plants and examine the 8 x 4 sheds and summer houses on display.

Kevin Roberts, the marketing manager for the garden centre, said that they wanted something different from reindeers and something which would make them stand out from the ‘run of the mill’ garden centres who choose boring old reindeers (what would Rudolph think if he could read this?) He went on to say that their theme was the Spirit of Christmas as a ‘back to basics’ because of the credit crunch. Obviously camels featured very strongly in the story of baby Jesus and he had to be born in a manger in a stable, not dissimilar to a large garden shed for horses, so really back to basics at the start of his life.

At that time of year gardening and wildlife go together with many gardeners encouraging wild animals by leaving wild areas and space underneath their sheds so these animals can find shelter and even one as small as 8ft x 4ft will do the trick. This is just one of the roles which the garden shed fulfils even in the depth of winter.

Nowadays experts are saying that gardens should be used as an extra room and in our tight economic times then that must seem to make sense. A garden designer and university lecturer, Matt James, reported that outdoor spaces are nowadays being used the same as indoor spaces for a lot of activities, dependent on the weather of course. Mr James commented that cooking and catering, sleeping and relaxing is a popular use of our natural outdoor space. The garden designer further went on to say that people are investing money into their gardens maybe to a different pattern than even just a few years ago but they see that investment in the garden is a worthwhile pursuit. This enables a place of solitude or a place to escape, possibly in the traditional retreats, such as 8X4 sheds or garden buildings

His conclusions came after a survey conducted by the National Home Improvement Show shows that 90 per cent of people were making plans to undertake gardening projects in the next few years. The survey also had one third of the people saying that in their view garden landscaping was a boon to their living and would increase the value of their property which can only be a good thing when one is thinking of pastures new.

A few years ago the Halifax published research showing that improvements in the garden had been neglected in the previous 12 months. Whether the situation at the moment is better is unlikely but if you can it will pay off in the short term where you can enjoy your garden and relax and in the long term will help, if and when, you decide to move on.

The National Home Improvement Shows is the UK’s leading event for home improvement companies which brings together experts, high quality suppliers and garden and home designers and experts in one place. Garden Sheds, Summer Buildings, Log Cabins should also feature at this superb show in sizes from 8ft x 4ft and larger. This makes is ideal for anyone planning a project to find out all they need to know. It’s your chance to progress your ideas, find inspiration, and take your project forward. The next show is normally in September at London Olympia.