FOR years men have treated their garden sheds as a haven of peace and quiet where they can do a spot carpentry, pot plants or simply read the newspaper.

But “Sheddies” go one step further, turning their sheds into anything from a bar to a church.

One Malmesbury man has even transformed his humble shiplap shack into an artist’s studio.

Now it has been entered in a national shed of the year contest judged by Property Ladder presenter Sarah Beeny.

The Stencil Shed has been created by former street artist Luke Hollingworth, who prefers to be known as Syd.

What started out as a simple shed given by his father-in-law has been pimped into a workshop, party shed and “man space,” with the help of a friend who gave him a day’s labour as a wedding present.

“I showed him my shed. I was pretty proud of it at that point,” Syd told the Standard. “But he was full of ideas to improve it.”

The roof was lifted, wood reclaimed from skips was used to put in a new floor and the size of the shed was doubled. A tree was in the way so the men simply built around it.

Syd runs his business hand spraying artwork from the shed and large doors were installed opening up the front “So I don’t gas myself when I’m spraying.”

A Calor Gas bottle was recycled and turned onto a small woodburner and a small sofa installed. It even has wifi and its own website, TheStencilShed.co.uk.

“The wife likes it, but it is normally just me and the dogs,”

However he knows his days of peace and quiet in his “man haven” will become fewer because he and his wife are about to have their first child, which could mean having to turn some of his pride and joy into a Wendy house.

Voting ends on May 20 at readersheds.co.uk.