Gizmag sends out its heartfelt congratulations to Alex Holland, winner of this year's coveted Shed of the Year award for his solar-powered nautically-themed shed built almost entirely from salvaged materials. The crowning glory is a 14-ft boat which has been left whole and inverted to form the roof. A 20-W solar panel powers the creature comforts inside.

To create the shed's frame, the boat was fixed atop four telegraph poles plonked judiciously on a hillside amid Wales' Cambrian Mountains. (The views aren't at all bad, either). Aluminum-framed windows were salvaged from a 1940s caravan, and others were "borrowed" from Holland's farmhouse. Walls are a mixture of corrugated metal and, for a taste of the Neolithic, wattle and daub.

Inside things take a turn for the high tech. The shed's PV panel feeds a battery which provides power to LED lighting and a 12-V sound system – the only new item in the construction. The shed also boasts a plumbed Belfast sink (the generous, cuboid-shaped ones), and a 19th century wood burning stove for heat fitted with a chimney fashioned from the queen pole of an old circus big top.

The views aren't bad, either (Photo: Readersheds.co.uk)

Where sheds end and (sometimes pretentious) "micro-dwellings" begin is anyone's guess, but it's refreshing to come across a modestly-sized building designed for purposes other than commenting on the inherent tension between built and natural environments or seeking to blur the boundary between the indoors and the outdoors. Holland's motive? "We have discovered that the shed is an ideal space for middle aged women to get drunk and dance wildly under the stars and we intend to pursue this policy!" he writes, at Readersheds.co.uk. "It is also an ideal place for me to sit whilst our 3 dogs run around our field exercising themselves."

Holland intends to spend the £1,000 winnings (more than twice the cost of building the shed) on a wind turbine "to give me enough electricity to make ice in the fridge for gin and tonics, and to ensure the cider and beers are always chilled."

Sources: Readersheds.co.uk, Shedblog.co.uk