It was soon evident to Richard and Jane that these Victorian huts were ideal for providing useful, contemporary spaces for offices and everything from spare bedrooms to artists’ studios.

To date, Plankbridge’s shepherd’s huts have been created for Hampton Court Palace’s gardens, The Pig Hotel Group, Daylesford Farm Shop, Humble by Nature and National Trust properties. What’s more, Plankbridge won a silver medal at RHS’ Chelsea Flower Show 2012 for an ‘Artisan Garden’.

In July 2014, Plankbridge delivered a traditionally-crafted shepherd’s hut to The Royal Gardens at Highgrove to mark His Royal Highness Prince George’s first birthday. Richard gifted the 12 x 6’6in shepherd’s hut for Prince George to play in when he visits Highgrove as a mark of appreciation to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales for the funding, opportunities and advice offered to him when he enrolled in the Prince’s Youth Business Trust in 1994.

Plankbridge’s most recent project was for Anne Jennings from Viridian, who was tasked with creating a romantic, magical space with the character of an old, rediscovered garden. Within the garden design, Anne had to include a suitable playhouse for the client’s children, which needed to be in keeping with the style of a once-forgotten family haven, but with contemporary twists to make it fit for modern-day use. With a 600mm alley to access the garden, there was not enough space to deliver the finished hut, so Plankbridge built a reduced size hut on site, which helped it blossom and grow into the fabric of its magical surroundings.

All Plankbridge’s huts and living vans are inspired by the heritage and tradition of rural craftsmanship, with all the company’s shepherd’s huts built to the same 12 x 6’6in Victorian footprint, which would have been the norm during Thomas Hardy’s life. Due to the limited space within Anne’s garden project, there was not enough room to fit a traditional-sized shepherd’s hut, so Richard and Jane used a smaller footprint of 8 x 6’6in, which still allowed enough space for the children to enjoy the hut.

The design of the playhouse was completed at Richard and Jane’s workshop in Dorset, as was the preparation and weathering of the panels. All the completed components were delivered to the garden and the build took place on site. Plankbridge worked closely with Anne every step of the way to ensure that the hut’s presence helped achieve the desired effect within the garden, from the colour schemes to the level of distressed paintwork on the exterior of the hut.

The hut is set on a strong metal chassis with cast iron wheels set on the outside of the hut, which is typical of the traditional Victorian design. Because the hut needed to be delivered in panels, Plankbridge clad the exterior in timber, as opposed to the usual corrugated iron. While, interior design firm, Sera of London, brought in suitable interior items of furniture and soft furnishings.

The playhouse’s exterior needed to look as though it had been in this once-forgotten garden for a long time, so as well as draping it in ivy, wildflowers and covering the roof in moss to look as though it had grown into the garden, the timber cladding was distressed by painting the panels with three different colours. Each layer of paint was applied and dry brushed before being rubbed back.

The hut’s window frames are made from oak, and in this case both the windows and doors were painted to be in keeping with the distressed, weathered look. Meanwhile, the curved roof has been produced from corrugated iron, which is the traditional Victorian style of roof. Viridian then added a layer of moss to the roof, contributing to the maturity of the garden and the sense of a lost haven being rediscovered.

Commenting on the finished project, Richard says: “Jane and I first began by discovering and recreating a Victorian shepherd’s hut, so it is always interesting to come at a project from the reverse angle and create something that looks weathered by many years from entirely new materials. The hut in Chelsea is so at home within the beautiful outdoor escape designed by Anne and, for us, the playroom is a perfect visual representation of the once-forgotten shepherd’s hut now coming alive in the modern world, in so many different ways.”

Plankbridge has recently launched its first ‘ready to go’ model called the Simply Classic shepherd’s hut. It is a distillation of 16 years’ experience and knowledge of what people need and want from their outdoor hideaways and offers a more affordable option for those wishing to extend the use of their garden throughout the year. In 2017, the company will also be returning to RHS Chelsea Flower Show and will be developing two new larger designs.