Surrey Homes | SH37 | November 2017 | Gift supplement inside

Above: The master bedroom is a peaceful haven of white
storage bench and table and a small staircase leading up into
the ‘cap’. “The steps have drawers in but the deadline for
finishing was so tight that I decided to make a climbing wall
instead and so there’s just one step at the bottom with a drawer
containing a special treat store.” The big wooden pole in the
centre of the house was put in as an afterthought. “I put it in
when I started building the roof,” says Ben. “It gives support
to the roof, but also gives it the treehouse feel, as if the trunk
of a tree is growing up through the middle of the house.”
The magical, quirky windows are from salvage fairs and the
stained glass panel came from a car boot sale. Ben remembers:
“The windows were cheap, but in order to comply with
health and safety, we had to put toughened glass panels
over them, so they ended up being very expensive.” The
toughened glass window on the floor is an inspired idea:
it’s two inches thick, so you can stand on it, or lie on the
floor and look down to the river below. There’s a matching
roof window too, for staring up at the stars above.
Ben has made a little wooden kitchen area from
larch cladding, the perfect place for preparing toast and
hot chocolate. “The larch keeps its bark on and looks
more magical like that. I just sanded and oiled it,” he
says. It is these little things – the attention to detail, the
finishing touches and themed accessories that helped the
Mushroom House win the title ‘Shed of the Year’.
Just as we’re finishing our chat, Elsie comes in and talks
enthusiastically about the wonderful house. “Me and my
friends designed the Mushroom House in year five,” she says,
“but I didn’t think it would come this far. When we went on
the stage and they announced it and then we won, I was
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