Lights, Camera, Shed TV! Why a Video Could Help Your Shed of the Year Entry

First things first: you absolutely do not need a video to enter Shed of the Year. Brilliant photos tell a brilliant story, and plenty of our finest winners have never filmed a single frame. If you’ve got a great set of images showing off your build, your space, and your personality, that is more than enough.

But if you have made a video? Use it. And if you’re on the fence about making one? Here are five reasons why it might just be worth picking up your phone.

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5 Reasons a Video Can Make Your Entry Shine

1. It shows the journey, not just the destination. Photos capture a moment. A video can take the judges from a scrubby patch of garden all the way through to the finished, beloved space you’ve created. That transformation is powerful, and it gives context that even the best photograph simply cannot.

2. It lets your personality come through. Shed of the Year has always been about the person behind the shed just as much as the build itself. A video lets you speak directly, show your enthusiasm, and explain why this space matters to you. That human connection is hard to fake and impossible to ignore.

3. It helps judges understand scale and layout. A camera moving through a space tells the eye things a static image cannot. Judges get a real sense of how a shed flows, how space has been used cleverly, and how it all fits together. Tight angles, hidden nooks, loft spaces above workbenches , all of it reads far better in motion.

4. It spreads the word before judging even begins. Share your video and suddenly you’ve got friends, family, and fellow shed enthusiasts championing your entry on social media. That buzz genuinely matters. It gets people talking about your shed, and more eyes on what you’ve built. The community aspect of Shed of the Year is half the magic.

5. It gives your entry a life beyond the competition. Win or not, a well-made video is something you’ll treasure. It’s a record of what you built, how you built it, and who you were when you did it. Years from now, that will mean a lot more than you might think today.

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Entries From This Year With Brilliant Videos

Here are some of this year’s entrants who’ve made videos. Go have a watch; you’ll come away inspired.

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The Chitty Emporium – Nicholas Pointing, Isle of Wight

Nicholas built this shed from scratch over a year, using it as a home for the extraordinary things he creates: a mini split-screen camper on a mobility scooter, a mini Chitty on a ride-on lawnmower, a Tardis, and plenty more besides. Three arched windows salvaged from an old school flood the space with character, and the whole place exists to invent, build, imagine and drink tea. Perfect shed priorities.

View The Chitty Emporium on ReaderSheds

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The Proud Mary – Ross Bevan, Hertfordshire

Built by Ross and his 16-year-old son from the crumbling remains of a brick shed, sourcing what they could from Marketplace, eBay, and the reuse shop at the tip. The goal was a classic old pub look, with a full draught beer system, 55-inch TV, and second-hand restaurant bench seats with hidden tool storage underneath. The name comes from Ross and his wife’s wedding song: Proud Mary by Tina Turner. The last orders bell? That’s a brass bell his wife nearly threw in a skip four years earlier.

View The Proud Mary on ReaderSheds

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Cotswold Potting Shed – Vanessa Price, Gloucestershire

Built just two months after moving in, painted in Cuprinol black to match the greenhouse, and bearing a “Proud to be Stroud” sign that stops visitors in their tracks. Vanessa uses it year-round for sowing, potting on, and arranging flowers, but often it’s just for a quiet moment with a cup of tea. Proof that practical doesn’t have to mean ugly.

View Cotswold Potting Shed on ReaderSheds

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Mr Potts – Ian Paton, Hampshire

Ian’s shed is home to an ever-evolving mad marble run, operated by six automated wooden mice and made entirely from scrap metal and junk shop finds. There’s also a 1930s electric train that runs out through a tunnel, outside, and back in again. A room for the grandchildren at one end, a covered kitchen with a handmade smoker and BBQ outside, and Ian’s own quiet corner in the middle. The kind of shed where something new is always happening.

View Mr Potts on ReaderSheds

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The Parker Arms – Christian Parker, Hampshire

The whole family uses this one: daughters for pamper nights and study sessions, his son for gaming and sleepovers, his wife for fundraising meetings, and Christian himself as a home office. Built with his 12-year-old son, with the wall cladding soaked in beer for an authentic pub smell, and a blue heritage sign bearing his son’s initials to mark the opening. There are also three keen magicians involved, which might explain a few things.

View The Parker Arms on ReaderSheds

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The Geek Barn – Daniele De Paola, Hertfordshire

Once a dull concrete two-car garage, now a stunning 30sqm workshop and design studio with a vaulted roof of CNC-machined plywood and OSB. Daniele designs and manufactures products here while filming YouTube content, with a self-contained computer cubicle shielded from the sawdust next door. He describes it as a colleague rather than a workshop, which tells you everything about how well this space works.

View The Geek Barn on ReaderSheds

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Quill Cottage – Rob Larkins, Northamptonshire

Rob and his wife transformed a shed into a fully equipped hedgehog rescue, with power, water, heating, wi-fi, and CCTV to monitor the animals. It took over a month to make it safe and free from cross-contamination, and so far more than 30 hedgehogs have been rehabilitated and released back into the wild. All self-funded, all run by volunteers, and all because someone cared enough to do it properly.

View Quill Cottage on ReaderSheds

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L A Ink Printing Studio – Lucy Humphreys, Powys

What started as a “man pad” for Lucy’s eldest son became the engine room of a female-run family printing business. When they outgrew the original shed, they built an annex themselves and squeezed in three desks, four printers, a heat press, a cutting machine, a 3D printer, and all their stock. It’s now an award-winning operation, taking Best Custom Printing and Packaging Solutions Provider 2026 at the UK Enterprise Awards. This one’s on TikTok rather than YouTube, and it’s well worth a watch.

View L A Ink Printing Studio on ReaderSheds

@laink5

? Working Man's Blues – All or Nothing

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Otty’s Hobby Shed 2.0 – Chris Otterburn & Friends, Lancashire

Built for wargaming, but it became something far more than that. When friend Scott Forrest was diagnosed with cancer, the group rallied to finish the shed so he could visit. Sadly Scott passed away in November 2024 before he could make it, but the wonky bits of DIY he attempted during the build have been kept exactly as they are. Every Thursday the crew still gathers to play games, drink tea, and remember their friend. A genuinely moving entry.

View Otty’s Hobby Shed 2.0 on ReaderSheds

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The Workshed – Stuart Walker, Derbyshire

Stuart built his home office from straw. Inspired by a project he’d worked on in Africa, it has a timber frame, straw walls, cob interior cladding made from clay dug out of the garden, lime plaster, underfloor heating, and an ethernet connection. The timber cladding outside came from skips. The roof insulation was bought second-hand. The windows were old doors. The walls aren’t straight. Stuart loves it.

View The Workshed on ReaderSheds

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The Nikki Nailed It Studio – Nikki Holliday, Greater Manchester

Nikki’s nail studio in baby blue and lilac opened to clients in August 2025, painted in her own branding colours, with a plant ceiling she installed herself which was, in her words, “not half a labour of love.” Clients consistently comment on how beautiful and relaxing it is. Nails have been her hobby since childhood and are now her job, and this space is where that passion lives.

View The Nikki Nailed It Studio on ReaderSheds

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The Hide Studio – Kate MacRae, Carmarthenshire

Kate spent nearly a year transforming a derelict, rat-infested outbuilding on her three-acre Welsh property into a wildlife hide and creative retreat. Windows salvaged from the old caravan overlook bird feeders with camouflage screening, a bird ID wall runs above them, dead trees grow through the interior draped in solar lights, a wood burner keeps things cosy, and a fold-out bed means you can stay the night. Live wildlife camera feeds stream to a wall-mounted monitor. This is one of the most extraordinary builds we’ve seen in a long time.

View The Hide Studio on ReaderSheds

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Pete’s Shanty Shed – Peter Mclaughlin, Greater London

Pete has recreated a working ship’s boiler room, packed with marine and GWR steam memorabilia collected and restored over the years. There are live steam whistles, sounded on special occasions, with the full support of very understanding neighbours. A proper enthusiast’s shed, built on a reinforced concrete floor, and unlike anything else on this list.

View Pete’s Shanty Shed on ReaderSheds

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The Skylight Studio – Jennifer Starnes, Berkshire

Jennifer built this art studio with her dad, a shared project that has become her daily working space as she builds her career as a pet portrait and wildlife artist. The skylight was a game-changer, flooding the space with the kind of natural light that fine detail work demands. Old cupboards and shelving were repurposed rather than replaced. The studio holds memories of one of her biggest supporters in life, and that comes through clearly in the video.

View The Skylight Studio on ReaderSheds

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Have you entered this year, video or no video? Tell us in the comments, or tag us when you share your shed on social media. We love seeing every single one.

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