Every once in a while life can just get a bit overwhelming.  The daily stresses of cooking and cleaning can combine forces with your mundane job to make you long for an escape.  Maybe you are the sort of person who feels most at peace while outdoors.  Just a few minutes out on a deserted trail, atop a lonely mountain, or seated by a quiet pond can make all the difference in your mood.  The daily stresses don’t seem so important or worrisome anymore.  Yet, trains to remote places can be expensive and you may not always have time for a long journey and a hike.  Perhaps the best solution for you is to turn your back garden into a private getaway.

Not everyone has a pond in their back garden, but with a little effort you could convert your garden shed into a delightful getaway space.  A tidied up garden shed provides you with a number of options for the quiet you may need.  Sometimes all you need is a change of scenery.  Rather than sitting in your house you can sit out in your garden.  A little fresh air and sunshine may be all you needed.  Depending on the size of your shed you can shift about some items and make space for a small chair in a nook that you use just for relaxation.  You can bring some potted plants into the shed and maybe a few books.  You can sit there surrounded by your favourite flowers while you immerse yourself in a story and forget all the stresses of daily life.  If you leave the door open you can enjoy the sounds in your garden and watch as the birds fly past and the flowers come up in spring.  Maybe you will even find yourself busy doing a bit of gardening while you are out there.

The beauty of creating a getaway in your own back garden is that it you have free access to it any time you need to de-stress.  You can use it for stolen moments during your busy week and still enjoy the great outdoors on weekends. If you have a slightly larger garden shed you can turn it into a veritable retreat.  A cosy sofa and some warm blankets will be the perfect way to snuggle up with a book and forget the world.  You can close your eyes and imagine that your modest shed is a huge log cabin far away in a remote forest.  You can shut the door, grab pen and paper, and picture yourself as Wordsworth in a cottage in the Lake District, or, if you are slightly less ambitious, you could simply read some of his poetry.  It will only take a few lines to transport you effortlessly to a place of beauty and solitude.  Make this your quiet place, a work free zone, so that stress cannot follow you across the threshold.  If you do a quiet activity of any sort in your newly converted garden shed you will soon find yourself very much relaxed.

This is a guest post written by Melinda Wilson on behalf of http://www.tigerlogcabins.com/