Bluebell Shepherd Huts
vintage handmade shepherds huts, made in Northumberland
Bluebell Shepherd Huts is a family business in Northumberland designing and building vintage style shepherd huts in a traditional manner.
We make huts for glamping, garden rooms, home offices, spare bedrooms, artist’s studios, and playrooms. We can make huts for any use.
After owning a successful architecture design and build company for nearly 30 years, with clients as varied as the National Trust, English Nature private individuals, sculptors, and artists. Kit was looking to focus his interest and passion for small spaces and integrated living, compact builds, tiny homes, and particularly shepherd huts.
The simplicity of the design born out of practicality and the warmth and character that they exhibit is irresistible. The huts evoke images of rural idylls and times gone by and offer memories of childhood innocence and long lost hot summer days. They evoke feelings of warmth and tranquility
He wanted to transmit this feeling to others and so started Bluebell Shepherd Huts in 2018.
With his sons working with him, Bluebell Shepherd Huts is now a small family business located in beautiful Northumberland, with huts delivered from the Highlands of Scotland to the southern counties of England.
In the summer of 2018, we completed our first hut. This is Lavender Hut, a hut that we now use as a holiday let.
Visitors to the hut love the traditional style and vintage appearance and the calm serenity that a stay provides.
From this beginning and interest in this hut we started building bespoke huts for other people, we are not mass producing huts, we are building unique huts for unique individuals.
Each of our huts is a labour of love and takes with it a part of us.
Bluebell Shepherd Huts are honoured to be building traditional heritage shepherd huts for a new generation, huts that integrate into the natural elements of the rural environment to appears as though a lifetime has been spent on the land.
Cabin Studios
With request from clients looking for more space but in a simpler form we are now building garden studios, using the same traditional techniques that we use for the shepherd huts.
The studios are more geometric in shape than the huts offering a modern take on the hut design and offering attractive design features.
The studios can be fitted out simply, or have beds, stoves, kitchens, and en-suite facilities, all similar to the huts, from a garden office to a tinyhouse.
The exteriors can be clad in corrugated sheet or timber panelling, the interiors finished in plywood, timber panels or plaster.
So if you are looking for more space, whether it is to allow yourself to work from home, provide a guest room, an individual space for a teenager or elderly relative, these structures can provide the answer.
Generally not requiring planning permission, for personal use, they are the ideal cost effective solution to your accommodation needs.
Call us on 07760 165 408
When you have thought about your hut and how you are going to use it, the first stage is contact, get in touch through the website, send us a message or give us a call, and if you can arrange to visit.
Each project starts with a chat about your requirements, how big you want your hut, the finishes you require, and the interior fit out. Will your hut be a studio, a garden room, home office, a glamping let, additional accommodation or a private space?
Following this discussion an individual design is put together on a bespoke plan, made specifically for you.
All the detail and Specification we have prepared, including the cost is forwarded to you.
When you are happy, we go ahead.
The Build
The huts are built using traditional methods, and materials.
Typically, the huts are 12’ to “20’ in length and 7’6” to 8’ wide.
The huts have traditional cast iron wheels connected to a steel floor chassis. This offers rigidity and stiffness and allows the huts to be lifted.
The wheels sit outside the line of the hut as tradition dictates and not under the hut.
The hut is constructed out of a timber frame, which is hand built for each bespoke hut.
Roofs are clad in corrugated sheet.
External walls are generally clad in corrugated sheet, but we are happy to clad in timber if you require.
All our huts have fully insulated walls and noise reducing roof insulation. We generally use recycled glass wool but are happy to use sheep’s wool.
Internally the walls are clad with timber tongue and groove panelling, with solid wood floors.
Windows and doors are solid timber from sustainable sources with traditional pigtail ironmongery and double glazing.
The hut can have electrics to connect to the grid or can be designed to be fully independent for off grid living.
We like to restyle and upgrade vintage furniture to accommodate the kitchen but are happy to install modern kitchen units.
En-suites with toilets, showers and hand basins can be installed or cassette style toilets for isolated locations.
A wood burning stove with or without an oven and cooking facilities.
We like to finish the huts in the traditional black with cream and off white, to appear traditional but can accommodate any paint colours that you request.
Each hut is unique to you, so get in touch and let’s discuss your ideas.
Our Bluebell Shepherd Huts
Traditionally the shepherd’s hut was a kitchen, dining room, bedroom, sitting room and storeroom all rolled into one. Designs varied but all were constructed to provide the shepherd with practical and durable accommodation. The old huts had a stove in one corner for warmth and cooking, and a window on each side so the shepherd could see the flock. A hinged stable door, which was always positioned away from the prevailing wind, enabled him to hear the flock, and strong axles with cast iron wheels allowed for repositioning.
Artist's Studio
Garden Accommodation
Holiday accommodation
Stand Alone Accommodation
Home Office
Holiday Let
Cabin Studio
Cabin Studio