A hide for seeking.....

Working freelance means working at home for most and bee-vering away in the spare bedroom or at the dining room table has served me well for years. I'm not one to miss the buzz of the office or fellow workers. I work best in a solitary cocoon. But covid burst through my cocoon when there were, overnight, two of us sharing homespace and workspace. Looking online for a garden office shattered our illusions of ever being able to afford one. And then a farmer friend in the village came to the rescue with a 'wooden hut' he was decommissioning as a farm office. The 'hut' turned out to be sturdy, large, insulated and wired and all for a very reasonable sum. He would even transport it and set it in place for us as part of the price. What a gent! The transportation-to-site costs of these things can be eye-watering. It was in a bit of a poor state decor-wise - which made my eyes light up. A project...... The stained and torn lino on the floor, tatty mdf desks running along one wall, wires everywhere and fluorescent lighting meant it was just how I like my projects - a total strip out and start again.

But before we could pick up a paint brush or hammer I came down with covid and it had to act as an isolation unit for the Worker Bee - three weeks on a camp bed on that horrible lino beneath that equally horrible lighting! Before moving it into its final position, the farmer had left it at the end of the garden on a low-loader so the Worker Bee had to scramble up and down onto the trailer to get into it, but he grew to love sleeping there in the silence and communing with the birds and animals morning and night. He was distinctly reluctant to move back into the house despite a dodgy back from the camp bed. But I needed to get back to work so he was finally winkled out and renovations began.

Over a few months - when we could get materials during that odd time - we painted it a dark blue outside and an off-white inside, installed sisal carpeting, Ikea lights and raided the cottage for a desk, bookcase and sofa (luckily we had treated ourselves to a new one so the old one was looking to be re-homed). I took 50's village hall chic as my theme - complete with bunting, a Roberts Radio and a picture of the Queen - one of her sterner ones. When I find myself slacking or day-dreaming her reproving gaze catches mine and sends me back to work. 'You think that's hard? Trying wearing this crown' she seems to say. On the back wall I hung some of my collection of amateur art. I love finding these quirky old paintings in junk shops and antique places and giving them a home. And then I moved in! After working all those years in the house I was thrilled to have a new scene.

We then discovered a hidden benefit. We had installed the office at the end of the garden looking out on the meadow and I hadn't been working in it more than a few days when I found it was operating as a hide. The animals and birds who own the land - and look with astonishment at us, wondering why we have the cheek to keep appearing on it - would venture up close, not knowing there was a human hunkered down at the window. Even the radio being on did not seem to disturb them. We've been able to see the hares, deer, buzzards and all manner of birdlife without them seeing us. Hanging a bird feeder in a fruit tree to one side of the hut was an inspired idea of the Worker Bee. In winter I can work with the company of all sorts of garden birds lifting and landing at the feeders all day long and learn the subtleties of their colours and their habits without having to stand for hours in damp, cold conditions. It's amazing how companionable wildlife can be. I never feel lonely while there's a deer sidling along one of the hedges that border the meadow or a hare chewing a grass stalk or stretching in the sun just feet from my window.

As well as a work space and wildlife hide, it's also proved to be a sanctuary, summer and winter, for reading, listening to music, napping - even entertaining. The wine-glasses in image four aren't just decorative! We often find we're spending more time there than in the cottage.

And some work does get done too!