Inside the £160,000 shepherd's hut (and how you can order one for your garden)

Ever since the home-working epidemic, garden studios and shepherd’s huts have been in high demand, often as auxiliary office spaces or spare bedrooms.

But there are shepherd’s huts and there are *shepherd’s huts*. And these are the latter.

The pictures you see here are of the shepherd’s huts used at several of the various outposts of the ever-expanding Pig Hotel Group, where they (rather charmingly) call them ‘Super Wagons’.

The huts measure 26ft by 9ft, and are clad in black Yorkshire boarding with Thermafleece sheep’s wool — a natural insulation which keeps cool in summer and warm in winter.

Handcrafted at Plankbridge’s workshop in Piddlehinton, Dorset, these dinky little hideaways have all sorts of Instagrammable features: roll-top baths, woodburning stoves, and even adjoining outdoor showers.

While Plankbridge’s crafts people put the shepherd’s huts together, the interior design of the Super Wagons is the work of Judy and Robin Hutson, The Pig’s founders, who obsessed over getting every detail right, ‘from the shower rose down to the retro light switches,’ in Judy’s phrase.

The two companies have been working together for a while: back when both were still new ventures, ‘Robin turned up at our workshop on his motorbike and commissioned two huts for The Pig on the Beach in Studland, Dorset,’ says Richard Lee, founder and co-director of Plankbridge.

Unsurprisingly, they’ve proven a popular feature of The Pig-at Combe in Devon, at Harlyn Bay in Cornwall, in the South Downs and at Bridge Place in Kent.

A night in one of these huts costs from around £320. But surely one night wouldn't be enough — and in any case, why spend £320 when for just 500 times that you can have a Super Wagon all of your own? That's now an option to those with £160,000 to spend, as The Pig and Plankbridge have decided to let the fruits of their collaboration be available to all with the launch of what they’re calling the The Pig-at Home Wagon.

‘This collaboration marks a milestone on our journey together,’ adds Richard. ‘We normally keep our design secrets close to our chest, but we have been asked so many times about our handcrafted Plankbridge huts and wagons that we decided we would make an exception. Our distinctive Pig-designed wagons will now be available for our guests to own.’

The Pig-at Home Wagon is can be bought for £160,000 and as with all their shepherd’s huts, is hand-built to order.

If it doesn't quite hit the spot, of course, you can commission your own hut with even more flourishes and customisation — or a totally different style.

See www.plankbridge.com to whet your appetite, and get ready to spend less time in your house and more in the luxury hidey-hole at the end of your garden.

Additional reporting by Annunciata Elwes

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