Many authors wrote their best works in sheds or cabins. Among The Literary Shed’s favourites are:
- Virginia Woolf’s lovely ‘room of her’ own at Monk’s House, East Sussex, with its large windows and lovely views.
- George Bernard Shaw’s ‘London’ shed (actually in Hertfordshire), hidden away in his garden and, very sensibly, built on a turntable so that it could rotate with the sun. It had electricity, a buzzer and a telephone.
- Dylan Thomas’s compact Welsh writing hut, a former garage, where most of his major works were written.
- Mark Twain’s octagonal hut in New York – in his opinion ‘the loveliest study you ever saw’ (letter to William Dean Howells, 1874).
- Roald Dahl’s quaint, pretty literary shed, where he wrote in an armchair with a board across his lap (as did Woolf apparently).
- Henry David Thoreau’s woodland hut in Massachusetts, situated near a pond called Walden.
Which is your favourite? If it’s your own, please do send us photos and we’ll post the best ones on the site, especially if there’s a good story attached.
Our Literary Shed, featured in the slide show, is painted blue and has a bus stop outside. Each to their own…