Well the voting for Shed of the Year 2009 is now over, many many thanks for all the sheddies who took part this year with new sheds, and the sheddies who shared their sheds in the past and added new images for this years competition, its great to see how you have pimped your sheds since last time..

I just need to “do the math” over the next few days to get the category winners together.

Then our team of crack shed judges including Chris Evans, Sarah Beeny , Trevor Baylis, Alex, Lloyd, Rico and Tim and Tony have to sit down and mark each of the category sheds out of 10, hopefully they will do it in their sheds and decide which is their shed of the year.

I will then tally up all the scores on the shed doors and the shed with the most votes from this secret ballot will win and will announce the Winner on 8th July, keep any eye on shedblog.co.uk or follow me on twitter.

Of course I can’t comment on which one is my favourite Shed of the Year, as I am on the judging panel its very difficult as I love them all!

But all I can say it was a very tight vote in some of the categories after having a quick look last night, and the standard of sheds added for this years competition has matched the quality and innovation we have had in the past years.

I hope to publish a top 3 in each category when I find my calculator (but maybe after Shed Week) on the shedblog.

I will be publishing exclusive interviews with a select bunch of sheddies and shed fans in the coming weeks, so watch the blog for that..

If you have any shed news or are holding any special shed parties during shed week let me know and I will add them to the Shed Colander..

cheers

wilco

Filed under: Shed News by Wilco - 2829Commentshttp://www.shedblog.co.uk/2009/06/22/for-those-who-voted-%e2%80%93-we-salute-you/For+those+who+voted+%E2%80%93+we+salute+you.2009-06-22+12%3A00%3A42Wilco

Sheddies I have just emailed a bunch of you to remind you that Voting is open and to do the following..

1) Make sure your shed details are up to date

2) Make sure it has got some images uploaded (to be able to get a valid vote)

3) If you have a twitter account, you can now add that to your shed page
(just go to your shed page and click on Change your shed details/info

4) Tell your family and friends to vote!

Unfortunately some of the emails bounced, so I will have to disable the shed from the competition until you contact me with an updated/new email address..

Filed under: Shed week by Wilco - 2744Commentshttp://www.shedblog.co.uk/2009/05/18/housekeeping-on-the-shedfront-is-your-shed-ready-for-shed-of-the-year-2009/Housekeeping%3A+is+your+shed+ready+for+Shed+of+the+year+20092009-05-18+20%3A18%3A20Wilco

Journalist Ruth has made this request to the lady sheddies out there with beach huts….

I’m writing a feature for Prima magazine, a monthly women’s glossy, about women who own beach huts. I wondered if you knew of any women, aged late 20s to 60, who own a pretty beach hut somewhere in the UK? I’d need to do a telephone interview with them, and we’d also need to take their picture (with said beach hut!). If you know of anyone, or are able to post something on your website, that would be great. Please let me know as soon as possible, as I’m hoping to interview people at the end of this week/ start of next.

If you can help please contact Ruth

Incidentally we helped Ruth out a while back and this month Prima (Buy it in the shops) has a great three page (not page 3) feature on lady sheddies including one of our very own, Linda

Linda Barlow, 52, an artist from Wem, North Shropshire, treasures her shed as a studio.

‘Before I had a shed, the kitchen table was my office. I had to wait until my children, Jonathan, now 20, and Emily, 19, went to school and my husband, Ray, set off for work, before laying out all the paraphernalia I would need for the day cottons, dyes, embroidery threads, paints and brushes.

Working amid such chaos was difficult, not least because I would have to clear everything away at the end of each day.

‘Hiring a studio would have been too expensive, so three years ago I hit upon the perfect solution a shed. I knew exactly what I wanted, and drew the plans on the back of an envelope.

For £750, a local contractor built my shed with beautiful tongue-and-groove woodwork and a pretty pitched roof. However, I did all the groundwork myself, even laying 120 flagstones and digging a metre-deep trench from the house for the electricity cable. It was back-breaking work, but I loved it

You should be able to read it online sometime soon.

Filed under: Shed News by Wilco - 2613Commentshttp://www.shedblog.co.uk/2009/04/07/are-you-a-lady-beach-hut-owner/Are+you+a+lady+beach+hut+owner%3F+2009-04-07+14%3A49%3A33Wilco

Handout/PA Wire

A British-built steam supercar has successfully test-launched ahead of its bid to break a century-old world land speed record for steam-powered vehicles.

The 25ft-long British Steam Car – dubbed the “fastest kettle in the world” - reached speeds of up to 60mph on tarmac at the Ministry of Defence’s Thorney Island facility in Emsworth, Hampshire.

The team hope to break a 103-year-old record by improving on the 127mph reached by American Fred Marriott driving a Stanley steam car in 1906 at the Daytona Beach Road Course. The attempt will take place in California’s Mojave desert in June.

Filed under: Diy by Wilco - 2594Commentshttp://www.shedblog.co.uk/2009/04/02/something-for-you-steam-punk-sheddies/Something+for+you+%22Steam%22+Punk+Sheddies2009-04-02+09%3A00%3A27Wilco

Maybe it’s the snow getting to me or is it the slush?

but I would just like to say thanks to the following sheddies who are always reading and commenting on the blog and make me feel thats it’s just not me writing and noone reading this stuff!

• Andy from Workshopshed, he’s a “great resource” he is always there with a useful comment and is the uber sheddie on our underused forum, with great tips for the sheddie
• John from secrects of Shed building for writing great posts about things I cannot fathom, hope they are of use to you lot.
• Alex from shedworking Not only is Alex a Shed of the year judge, he’s always on the end of an email, when I need one of my ideas checked out…. I don’t bother him as much as I would like to!

I have never meet these blokes, but I feel that they are friends!

also a mini shout out to some of my other regular readers, Debra Prinzing, FinRaucous, Shedman, Martin and Simon

thanks to Darren Rowse for a great post that got me thinking.

Filed under: Just sheds, Shed News by Wilco - 2412Commentshttp://www.shedblog.co.uk/2009/02/05/a-couple-of-shout-outs-sheddies/A+couple+of+shout+outs+-+sheddies2009-02-05+13%3A15%3A38Wilco

A great little story from the Journal in N’castle

Image from dtbg.co.uk

The equation couldn’t be simpler. While men and sheds have always been an irresistible combination, inserting brewing enthusiasm into the formula results in Paradise.

John Winterburn, John Anderson, Pete Fenwick, Ian Jackson, Trevor Danes, John Penman and another half-dozen ale stalwarts scattered from Hartlepool to Gainford in County Durham meet up every three weeks – in a shed – to sample one another’s latest efforts and talk about mashing, boiling, fermenting and conditioning.

With doors closed, pints poured and spiders on guard, it’s boys’ talk that oft-times wanders along the lines of tongue-and-groove, felt roofs and dovetail joints, but invariably returns to beer.

Darlington Traditional Brewing Group was formed in 2002 after long-time home-brewer John Winterburn was invited by the Workers Education Association to run a course on full-mash brewing in his local community centre. The original scheme has run its course but the 12 remaining members continue to brew in back yards, kitchens and garages – and every one of them has his own shed-based pub to reflect in and mull over what grown men reflect in and mull over.

“We all have our own recipes,” says lollipop man John Winterburn. “We take it in turns to host meetings where there’s a bit of a spread and always a new beer to try. People ask all the time if they can join, but we’ve got no more room at the moment because only so many people can fit into a shed.

“We can brew 10 gallons of beer for £5 or £6 by buying ingredients in bulk. It’s not just about cost, it’s about quality. We can make beer just like you’d buy in a pub. The only thing we can’t do is lager – Darlington water doesn’t have enough carbonates in it – but one member tried it by buying five gallons of spring water from Morrison’s and made a brilliant pilsner.”

Filed under: Ale by Wilco - 2395Commentshttp://www.shedblog.co.uk/2009/01/30/shed-sheddies-x-beer-shed-homebrew-heaven/Shed+%2B+sheddies+x+beer+%3D+Shed+Homebrew+Heaven2009-01-30+11%3A14%3A54Wilco

As the mad month of December finally reaches us, I have been asked what I want for a present from Mrs Uncle Wilco for Christmas, but of course what do you get a sheddie who has everything… (maybe not), but here’s my list hopefully I will get one of them.

It’s like the 12 sheds of Christmas list.

1.) A Trevor Baylis wind up MP3/light/radio/otherthing wossname
2.) Complete Beer Brewing kit from brew it yourself
3.) Some cheese from our cheesemonger theCheeseshed
4.) Xbox 360
5.) Samsung 20″ telly
6.) The River Cottage Trealy Charcuterie
7.) Solar power for the shed!!
8.) A lean to greenhouse! i am not turning to the dark side my tomatoes failed this year
9.) Ratatouille vegetable mix Seeds
10.) A Hammock
11.) A weekend at a Spa, just to check that Mrs Uncle wilco reads this.
12.) The best ever Shed of the Year 2009!

Is there anything you sheddies want, then add it to the list.. as we can all dream

Filed under: Shed News by Wilco - 2069Commentshttp://www.shedblog.co.uk/2008/12/01/the-best-christmas-gifts-for-a-sheddie/The+best+Christmas+gifts+for+a+sheddie2008-12-01+14%3A17%3A23Wilco

Alex proud gives his views over at the Timesonline and says how he got a shed for the sheddie in his life.

One day, the man gives up and retreats into his shed, which is his last refuge, a kind of man preserve. Even then, his wife won’t leave it alone, and will constantly make suggestions for its “improvement” (my wife tells me there’s a trend for wallpapering one’s shed — what?). It’s like a Brazilian soya-bean farmer eyeing up the last scrap of rainforest.

I’ve managed to turn the tables, though. Having lived in several flats that soon came to resemble inhabited car-boot sales, when my wife and I built our own house I was determined to control the clutter from the outset. So, I bought my wife a shed. Not just any shed, but the double-glazed, heated, supersized Rolls-Royce of sheds. Making it expensive was key — the cost meant I was not denigrating her knick-knacks. By going posh, I’m not merely offering a storage solution, but a place where my beautiful wife can express her creativity. It’s not a perfect solution: soft cushions still litter my B&B Italia sofa like so much flyblown trash, and ornaments still sprout like mushrooms on unwatched surfaces. So I have to be vigilant, but, by and large, my nice modernist house does not resemble a live-in eBay. As for the shed, I’ve been in there only once. It took me a week in a sauna retreat to recover, and the sight of multicoloured macramé still makes me sweat.

but as we all know sheddies, both his and her sheds are great and provide the retreat for him or her.

Filed under: Sheds by Wilco - 1554Commentshttp://www.shedblog.co.uk/2008/09/28/the-times-gives-hints-on-living-with-women/The+Times+gives+hints+on+living+with+women2008-09-28+09%3A55%3A12Wilco

The Mirror reports in a NIB

A couple has put an end to fights about garden tools by building Two sheds.

Helen and Richard Appleton have even hung “his”and “hers” signs in their sheds in Sudbury, Suffolk, where the winner of Shed of the Year 2008 Tim is from.

Richard says “It’s provides me with solace” and Helen said “He has to ask to go into my shed, Of Course, I can enter his shed whenever I want”

Filed under: Shed News by Wilco - 1093Commentshttp://www.shedblog.co.uk/2008/07/16/twin-sheds-his-and-hers/Twin+sheds+-+His+and+Hers2008-07-16+06%3A49%3A32Wilco

I have been asked a few times where the name for readersheds.co.uk came from.

of course everyone thinks and are correct that I am playing on the fact that people send in photos of their sheds, a bit like readers wifes in certain mens entertainment magazines, to be honest I think readersheds has now taken on it’s own personality and is not smutty at all, so I think that comparison can now go.

anyway now I have cleared that up here’s some readers ladies and their sheds Some fellas tomorrow.

Pauline from the Fat Newt

Verity from Green gables.

Sam from the Shed

Unknown from the Stoned Inn

Sarah from The Pool shed

Mel from the Mim shed

If you see any others let me know

Filed under: Shed News by Wilco - 972Commentshttp://www.shedblog.co.uk/2008/06/08/readersheds-readerswifes/Readersheds+%3D+Readerswives%3F2008-06-08+10%3A05%3A51Wilco