Best Log Cabins and Summer Houses to Buy For A Garden

DISCLAiMER

Summer houses and Log cabins, what’s the difference?

Summer Houses

Designed, as their name suggests, to be used as a pleasant retreat in the summer, summer houses are normally smaller buildings that are generally a little bit larger than a garden shed. In terms of construction, chalet style buildings are common, and pent roofing, being simple and easy to maintain, is by far the most popular.

Summer houses should not require planning permission, but it’s always worth checking with your local authorities.

Log cabins

require planning permission, but always check because the rules vary depending on size and placement. If you’d like to know more about log cabin planning permission in the UK, this is a great guide.

Everyone knows what log cabins look like. That’s part of their appeal, the rustic style adding a certain aesthetic flair. Compared to summer houses, log cabins tend to be larger, more complete buildings. Smaller gardens might not be suited to log cabins, but a well appointed log cabin can be used for almost anything, whether that be home office, outside gym, even extra living space.

Again, log cabins tend not to

 The best log cabins and summer houses in 2019

Forest Garden Oakley 7x5ft Summerhouse

Traditional and cute, the Forest Garden Oakley is well sized for any garden, and perfectly proportioned for two people to use.

Small and solid, it’s made from pressure treated wood shiplap which slots together simply as easily. Even if you’ve never held a hammer in your life, you won’t have any issues putting this together. Delivered fast, you if you bought it today, within a week you could be sitting outside enjoying the weather with your loved ones.

Two large doors with half windows give easy access whilst opening the entire structure up, meaning that not only is this a great little building, you can easily imagine your whole family clustering round it, drinks in hand, full of laughter.

There’s also honestly very little negative to say about this summer house. For the price, you get a well appointed, well built little structure that’s ideal for small to medium sized gardens, does its job admirably and can easily double as a shed in a pinch.

Forest Garden Cranbourne Corner House

A design that’s steadily gaining popularity for summer houses is corner houses. That’s because, when space is at a premium, it’s honestly the best design you can have. 

Pretty and smart, the corner design of the Cranbourne lets it slot into any squared off garden, fitting perfectly into the available space and saving you a ton of room.

On top of that, because it’s a corner building, when you’re sitting inside it, because of the placement of the windows and doors you have a huge field of view, giving you perfect visibility over the entire rest of your garden.

Made from the same strong, dip treated material and to the same standards as all of Forest Garden’s products, as well as being simple to put together over the course of an afternoon, if space was a concern but I still wanted a summer house, I’d be leaning heavily towards this.

Waltons 12x8ft Long summerhouse with built in shed.

Out of the vast majority of the summerhouses we’ve reviewed, this is our favourite.

Large and spacious inside, it has a generous amount of internal room that, better still, is almost entirely accessible to the outside because of the smart double folding door designs. Even with the doors closed, they’re floor to ceiling styrene, giving you a full view of your property and the outside world, no matter the weather. Plus they’re near impossible to break as well as being eco friendly.

The structure itself is well built, with a tongue and groove design that’s pretty simple to put up, especially with a partner, as well as being hard wearing and tough. Just in case anything does go wrong, you’ve got a ten year guarantee keeping you safe.

Honestly though, what swung this for us was the built in shed. The mind whirls with ideas, from the obvious; keeping the summer furniture, barbecue and garden tools in, to the outlandish; using the summer house as a home office and setting up the shed with air-con and all of your computer servers, so they’re out of the way.

No matter what you’re using it for though, for the price and size, this is the best summer house we’ve seen.

Waltons 11x10ft Apex roofed cabin

If you’re looking for something a little larger, and perhaps more suitable as a space to spend significant amounts of time rather than just the odd summer evening, then this cabin by Waltons is the perfect choice.

With a generous amount of internal space that goes a lot further than you might expect because of the deceptively high ceilings, and the extra space offered by the built in veranda, this is the perfect cabin to spend a quiet evening in, or convert into a workspace or gym.

19mm panelling that interlocks at the corners in the attractive, traditional chalet style keeps the structure strong, whilst also keeping it warm in wind, rain and snow. No matter the weather outside, when you’re tucked comfortably behind the safety glass doors and windows, under the treated mineral felt roof, you’ll feel safe and secure. On the off chance something does happen to go wrong, there’s a 10 year guarantee.

It’s also very reasonably priced, especially when you factor together build quality, size and ease of putting it all together. Considering it’s a simple, general log cabin, Waltons do almost everything right, and very little wrong. If you buy this cabin, you won’t regret it.

https://astonshedsuk.com/garden-buildings