The winner of 2026's Shed of the Year competition isn't your typical home office or backyard bar. Instead, the top prize has gone to a lovingly handcrafted wargaming shed built by intrepid tabletop warriors.
To the uninitiated, the UK's Shed of the Year is an annual competition showcasing creative hobbyist garden builds. Though the structures are modest in size, the creativity on display is remarkable and demonstrates what can be achieved by regular people on a relatively small budget.
Lancashire-based winner Chris Otterburn originally built a smaller hobby shed where he and friends regularly gathered to play tabletop wargames including Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game and Warhammer 40,000. As the group expanded, squeezing multiple tabletop battles into a small shed became impractical, and the idea for Otty's Hobby Shed 2.0 took shape.
"As time went on Chris realized we had begun to outgrow shed 1.0 and he set about planning to build a new shed - one that would not only be big enough to play the scale of games we'd dreamt of but also provide comfort and surroundings so we could enjoy meeting up to its fullest," explains friend Dave Weston. "Around this time one of our friends Scott Forrest had been undertaking his own real-life battle with cancer and when Chris started the Shed 2.0 build on his own we all started to help out in getting the shed completed so Scott could get to hang out and play. Sadly, as the shed neared completion, Scott was too unwell to visit and passed away in November 2024."
The shed was constructed by Otterburn and his friends using reclaimed and recycled wood, including tabletops sourced from a local pub, broken dining tables, and self-built cabinets. It was also insulated to make it more comfortable for year-round use.
It's accessed through a green door painted the same shade as 'Bag End' from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings movies. The interior consists of one very large open space, dominated by oversized tabletops that host complex miniature battles. It also has seating, an area for making tea and coffee, and lots of shelving and cabinets. The walls are decorated with lamps and replica guns, and in future the group plans to add a projector and an air-conditioning unit.
Otty's Hobby Shed 2.0 was crowned the 20th Shed of the Year winner by judges after first winning the competition's Pub & Entertainment category by public vote. The prize this time was a ceremonial statue by sponsor Tiger Sheds. Check out the video below for a tour of the shed and more on its story.
Source: Readers Sheds
