The latest two huts we have been working on, a Plankbridge and a Riverkeeper's, with the double doors on the side, both have interesting bed designs in them, so it's good to be doing some furniture making again.  Having such a good team means we can be raising the frames of the next hut whilst one of us does the final finishing off a hut before it's delivered.  One of the current huts is having an old fashioned looking built in bed with two large drawers under.  One drawer is to be pulled out for their Jack Russell to sleep in! The bed design is based on one in a Reeves hut we restored a couple of years ago.  I just have to finish the painted shutters and it's ready for delivery to the Cotswolds.

The other hut has a bed which can be set up, using a nesting blanket box arrangement, as a single bed or a double, or a bench seat during the day.  The seat is built into an arched recess in the wall with an oak lining.  This hut is going to be sited high on a hill, with far reaching views. The customer can set the bed up so they can lie in bed with the double doors open looking across a valley to the West.  The blanket box style means there is lots of storage too.  This hut is painted in two shades of Farrow & Ball yellow, with a white ceiling and oak skirtings.  It looks really smart, and there will be photos on our gallery section soon.

Plankbridge are featured in a very smart new book, 'My cool caravan'  by Jane Field-Lewis and Chris Haddon, with brilliant photos by Hilary Walker.  They came down last year and photographed an old Reeves shepherd's hut which we restored a while ago for a local estate, and our new build hut here at Waterston Springs.  It's an interesting book featuring all sorts of caravans, including Airstreams.

We have just delivered a Dorset downland hut to Somerset, and we are often asked to explain the difference between the two models we offer.  The Downland  is intended to be of a specification familiar to a Victorian shepherd.  However both versions have the same insulated roof with breather membrane and vapour barrier under the roof sheets.  The downland has an exposed timber frame on the inside, with a pine floor and no cavity under the floor.    I personally would prefer to take the hut beyond this stage to the much more refined Plankbridge hut.  This version has a cavity all round (floor, roof and walls) and benefits from the breather membrane and vapour barrier on all the walls and under the oak floor.  The main advantage is that the hut becomes a similar environment to a modern timber frame structure, meaning papers and books can be left inside without becoming damp.  The insulated cavity helps soundproof the interior, making it a relaxing place to be whatever the weather. 

During the snow I lit the stove in our Plankbridge hut early in the morning and it swiftly got to 21 degrees centigrade  inside the hut.  I kept the burner ticking over, maintaining the warmth inside and there was still 2" of snow on the roof at 3 in the afternoon.  A fully insulated hut has got to be a good thing!

Just watched the programme with Robert Macfarlane who spent a year, in Essex of all places, in search of the wild.  He found it, surprisingly, amongst the roads, intense farming and rubbish tips.  He spoke of finding small patches of woodland, large forest, reedbeds and marshes and even discovered watervoles making a come back (their numbers 95% down nationally) at Rainham marshes which was rescued only ten years ago by the RSPB.  It turned out he was a friend of the late, brilliant nature writer Roger Deakin whose books such as 'Wildwood', and 'Notes from Walnut tree farm' are essential reading for all of us who cherish the wild and are more than embarrased by what man has done, and is doing, in the name of 'progress'.

At one point in the programme Macfarlane enters a wood amongst barren arable fields, and quotes Deakin who said a wood or forest is a good place to find yourself, particularly by getting lost.  He then visits Deakins farmhouse and finds the original shepherd's hut that the great writer often slept in to get close to nature, often lying in bed listening to a deer rubbing itself outside on the tin, or looking out at the wild flowers around him.  Deakin particularly liked to sleep in his hut during a storm, listening to the rain hammering on the roof; feeling 'part of the storm yet protected from it.'

As we work we often come up with new ideas, new twists on the traditional shepherd's hut design.  A few years ago Andrew made a really smart thatched hut, and we have been meaning to work that up into a thatched shepherd's hut ever since.    Another idea that wont go away is being prototyped at the moment, and I am sure that it will complement the shepherd's huts really well and it will be on the website soon! 

We have very nearly finished our new timber store, (based on a shepherd's hut complete with curved galvanised roof!) which means we can de-clutter the main workshop and get everything in order.  Since the weather is turning really cold again we are all glad of the newly closed in workshop, complete with heating to warm things up when we are painting.