by Bill Young
The Shepherd Hut has been around for hundreds of years and primarily in England, but now they are available in America. They can be used as a guest house, a romantic retreat, a special workplace, a retail space for food service or dry goods. Another interesting use of these huts is to rent them out on a nightly basis, like a bed and breakfast.
This particular hut has an exterior dimension of 8 feet wide by 14 feet long. The interior space is approximately 7 feet wide by 13 feet long and can be set up with a number of different configurations. The walls are clad in profiled tongue and groove boards as is the ceiling and the floor is hardwood oak. The hut has been wired with six outlets and protected with a GFI circuit and overhead light. The hut is fully insulated and includes a vapor barrier. The metal roof is a rustic copper style. There are four insulated glass double hung windows that flood the interior with natural light. The Dutch door allows for an even more expansive view when open. The chassis is classic Shepherd’s hut and has a turntable-based front axle that allows for steering. The metal wheels are individually handcrafted and are fitted with tapered roller bearings that connect to the axles. The front towbar allows for different types of vehicles to move the hut around.
The key design feature of this hut is that it can be highly personalized for the new owners needs. The interior can be converted to an entirely open space or incorporate different types of beds, tables, built-ins, or any other fixtures that suit its new purpose.
This hut’s current configuration includes a double bed with a very large storage area underneath. A large cupboard that can provide a kitchen area with plenty of storage. A small table that can accommodate two to three people. These things are included as part of the basic package. The important thing to note here is that all of these things can be changed, removed, modified or even just moved to a different place inside the hut.The bed for example could be removed and replaced with a sofa or futon. The interior walls and ceiling are also designed to allow for any combination of paint or stain and of course the exterior colors can be changed to the color pallet of your choice. The goal of this design is to give you exactly what you want.
These shepherd huts are for sale if you are interested and want to learn more go to our website: http://www.shepherdshutsamerica.com/
Kent,
I no longer get linke to the aricle conrinuation, just the comments pagel
Very cute but I really don’t think a large hutch is a kitchen.
True, but I have seen a studio apartment kitchen which had a bar fridge, two burners and a small mini fridge built into a hutch similarly sized.
Sorry, Debbie, meant to say bar sink and not repeat fridge twice.
I do love the style and can imagine just how I would design the insides for my own use. Thank you……
what’s an ‘aricle conrinuation’
It’s a literary device used to detect smartasses.
You made me laugh, Chuck. And I needed a smile today. Thanks.
In the right climate it would work really well to have two of these (or even 3). You could make one for kitchen/dining, one for bedroom/bathroom/sitting room and with a third you could have a living room. Then put a covering of some sort over the middle and it would be paradise.
Nice work on these.
I love shepherd’s huts, and maybe I am a little spoiled by the past articles of some honest to goodness real ones in England and other places with lots,of character and uniqueness, but this hut looks pitifully lacking in charm, convenience, strength, and just plain adorableness. The wheels are so puny! There are no built in cupboards, shelves, nooks, and crannies, hooks and poles, wood heaters, benches with storage, composting toilets, stovetop. Man! It is really lacking all the charm and practicality of a shepherd’s hut in my opinion. Where is the color inside, the paint? Except for some white wood, everything is brown. And please get that overstuffed chair out if there! And just three ill-placed windows? That is going to be an oven! And where are the window boxes? It has potential (it’s almost cute), but go back and do your homework. It is not just about the small size or rounded roof. You’ve left out all the important parts that make it a cozy, charming, inviting dwelling for either full or part time living.
Really nice interior. Love the bed area. Now do some creative thinking and think Maritime kitchen instead of a big old piece of furniture. With a more creative kitchen this could be a total winner.
Okay, sorry, didn’t mean to sound so negative. It is a pretty little hut just so terribly plain, like the suburban house in the 70s neighborhoods that came to rule America and set standards of codes that we are fighting today to get to build tiny homes with character and practicality on our lots instead of typical houses. I understand that you left out a lot of things on purpose so the new owner can personalize, but then you don’t have a real shepherd’s hut, just a shed on wheels. Either commit all the way to the hut design and sell to people who want that, or find another design to which you can fully commit and build all the way, but don’t produce watered down versions of such special, historic, and delightful dwellings as the shepherd’s hut. It is like a translated 20th century English version of Beowulf. Without the rhythm of the old English verse, the story is benign and weak.
Wow….. You completely and totally missed the point. The builder has made it perfectly clear that his intention was to design a hut that could be personalized.That anything he has put inside can be changed, removed, or modified or that other built-ins could be added. That is the kind of hut that I would want, because I’m not a fan of a take it or leave it. What I may want in a Shepherds hut would most assuredly be different than what you would want. Some people may want to use a hut like this for a business use. To say that there is just one style and one combination of interior fittings that constitutes a Shepherds hut makes no sense to me. I have also been following Shepherds huts for many years and find that there is an great variety of styles in exteriors as well as interiors. I want the type of built-ins that I want. You say things like “misplaced windows “, well I like the idea of having a window in front of the table and windows that would provide a breeze over the bed area. You say the wheels are ” puny “but in looking at the close-up photo of the wheels I find nothing puny about them at all. You also complain about the lack of paint and all the wood -seriously- when it comes to these kinds of details I want to choose the paint and the stain, which with this hut I am able to do. The single most important thing is that I get to decide what I want my hut to look like and how it will function.