At last its finished and ia due to be delivered to the Olympic Park in Stratford London. The Poets Hut will be open to the public on Saturday. Read more: The Poetry Potting Shed will be making appearances in the park through until April. In March find us situated next to the Timberlodge, see the gallery map for details. Family fun come and get involved! Don't miss a chance to pop in and have a listen to some live poetry, take a workshop, or contribute to the installation created by young local poets. Featuring Niall O'Sullivan on Saturday 22, Sunday 30 March and Saturday 5 April, 11am-4pm plus Apples and Snakes' young writers, aimed at 3 - 6 year olds but everyone is welcome and there'll be plenty for parents too, including take away poetry, come and get them! |
Unfortunately, we didnt get a chance to get many photos of it once it was decorated. If you visit the Poets Hut and get some good photos or YouTube clips, I would love to feature them. Toms verdict on our Tiny house Garden Cabin after he had finished building it. When I wake, I’m struck by two things. First, because the house is so small it doesn’t take long to warm up when I turn on the heater. Second, while undoubtedly compact, the cabin holds a surprisingly large amount of my stuff. I could definitely imagine a single person or a couple living comfortably within it. Is it better than a mobile home or a large caravan? The height of the roof means that it doesn’t feel at all cramped and it certainly looks and feels more permanent and homely. If it’s to be a permanent home, rather than just temporary accommodation, then the ‘look’ and ‘feel’ of a property is essential — you have to feel affection towards your house. Building it yourself and customising it definitely fosters those emotions. Or it certainly did in me — I wonder whether Charlotte would mind if I spent just one more night in it... . Over the last couple of years I have received a vast amount of emails from people wanting to take on the challenge of building a Tiny House. Most people seem to think its as easy as building a shed on a caravan chassis but worry about putting three tons of timber on a frame designed to take just over a ton. Others are wondering how the structure will not twist and over time pull apart. To make life easier for everyone I have designed a Tiny House Kit. The first of which is being test driven without the chassis by one of The Daily Mail's Journalists Tom Rawstorne. He has been given 5 days to construct the kit, make it feel like home inside and spend the night in it. As you can see, the base is down, the walls up, windows in and the roof on in just 2 days! I'm not sure if Tom has hidden carpentry skills, a team of labourers hidden away or its just the fact that the kit was quite straight forward to put together. Over the next few days he will be decorating and dressing the interior for the final photo shoot and the grand reveal will be in The Daily Mail next Saturday. For many in the UK, the hopes of getting on the property ladder is a far off reality. The cost of living is so high and the current property prices are so far out of reach it seems impossible to be able to achieve. The only hope is inheritance from a family member or winning the lottery. We can’t leave things to chance so how on earth can we get on that first step? The two main things you need are a reliable income and a deposit! Yes, a deposit! The major problem for most non home owners. It seems to be a vicious circle doesn’t it. The only hope is to live as cheaply as possible and make as save as possible. With rental prices on the up again being able to save money can be very tough, there always seems to be so much month left at the end of the money! Tiny Houses are a huge hit in the United States, Canada and Australia and is gradually catching on here in the UK. People are looking at small living for a couple of reasons. a) to be able to live a greener life and help the environment and b) Live cheaply which gives them more income to save for a deposit on a property bricks and mortar property. Tiny Houses are very cheap to run. They are fully insulated, can have everything you would expect in a small property and use very little energy to heat them. The compact design creates an ideal mix of space and functionality giving you everything you need to live economically. As an example, Depending what area you live in, a bedsit or a room to let could cost you in region of £350-£550 per month. In most cases you would have to share the rest of the property ie kitchen, lounge, bathroom and toilet which can become quite hectic in most households. If you were to rent for a 4 year period, you would have spent on average over £20,000 on rent alone with nothing to show for it at the end of the term. By having your very own Custom Built Tiny House, the money you spend to pay for it would be considered an investment. Even if you were to get finance or a personal loan from your bank with similar monthly repayments you would still own your Tiny House which could be sold if and when it is no longer needed. They are built robustly like a house not a shed with long life and resale value in mind. After a lick of paint and fresh décor, the resale value could be not much less than what it cost a couple of years before. The other problem is where to put it. The garden of the family home is the obvious choice but you would need planning permission if you were to use it as a dwelling. A better idea would be a small bit of land but again planning permission would be an issue and the cost of the said plot of land in the first place. This is why a Tiny House Village is a great idea. For the hundreds of people who ask me the same questions (a/ Would I need planning permission to live in a Tiny House? and b/ Where can I live in one?) Help is on the way.. I'm working on it :-) A bespoke garden building are always the best. They tell a story about the property and the people they belong to and bring charm to the garden. I found this thatched cabin on the Wentworth Estate in Virginia Water Surrey just off the A30. The main house was a modest character property with an equaly modest garden. The lawns were kept perfectly which made the small garden cabin look even better. I would guess this great garden cabin is used as a play house for children but in what I would call a normal sized garden it world more then likely be used by adults as a garden office or studio. The bespoke garden building design really shines over and above other garden buildings I have seen in the typical house crammed roads.
Tiny House UK built a "Tiny House on Wheels" for 8 year old Harry featured on the program and will be used as part of a life changing transformation to the home for the family in Fareham.
The Cabin is now named "Harry's Hideout", a custom built Tiny House. An "out of the blue" phone call from BBC Local Radio to do a phone interview on The Mark Forrest Show.
You can hear it on youtube, click the image above. A large percentage of households in the UK dont have the luxury of side or rear access to the garden. They are very limited to the type of garden building they are able to have and even flat packed structures are often too large to deliver in sections through the house. Our latest Tiny House that was exhibited at Grand Designs was bought by a lady who lived in a typical Victorian street in London with no outside access to the garden. This is when you need to call on the experts. The great thing about Tiny Houses is that they are fully mobile and relocation is possible without too much trouble. All you need is a vehicle that is man enough to pull a 2 ton+ tiny house and a driving license that allows you to tow things behind you on the public highway. The first thing that pops to mind when people consider buying a tiny house is... Where can I put it? The garden is the obvious answer as they fall inside all the regulations needed to site a "Garden Building" in your garden as long as it is for personal use. Apart from your garden or a friend’s garden, you may need planning permission however it is not impossible. All it takes is a few forms to fill out, the application fee of approximately £200 and an 8-week wait. A lot depends on the use of the land where it is to be situated. Is the land Green Belt, is it Agricultural Land or an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The other thing to bare in mind is the use of the Tiny House. Is it to live in as a permanent dwelling, is for temporary leisure use or do you intend to rent it out as a small guest house/holiday home? All important factors that your local council will want to know before granting planning permission or agreeing that it would fall under permitted development. The best advice I can offer (as all situations are different) is visit your local council, armed with a photo of a tiny house and an intended location and ask their advice. After all, councils are there to help! Since my Tiny House on Wheels was featured on BBC’s “The One Show”, my exhibit at Grand Designs Live has been swamped with parents and children wanting to come and have a look at the Tiny House in person and have a photo in it. Teenagers and children love these little houses and would all love to have one in the garden. All our builds are custom built to the client’s own ideas and styles. The TinyHouseUK team were pleasantly surprised when 6 year old Evie Barber arrived at our stand armed with her design and floor plan of her dream home! Drawings, paintings and floor plans of tiny houses from children are very much welcome. If you are due to attend Grand Designs Live, please bring any examples, we would love to see them. |
Mark Burton
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April 2022
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