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Ship cabin transformed into award-nominated shed

Ellen Knightin Oswestry
News imageBBC Wide-angle lens photograph of Richard and Abi stood next to their cabin - a wooden and steel structure painted cream with two small windows on each side. On the front of the cabin are buoys and fenders, and it's 'tied up' to a black mooring post. It's in a garden, with green trees and bushes along the edges of green grass. Richard and Abi are stood with their arms around each other. BBC
Richard Banks and Abi Chesterton spotted the old cabin on a Cumbria dockside

A former trawler cabin has been transformed into an award-nominated shed.

Abi Chesterton spotted the disused cabin, "looking sorry for itself", on a dockside in Maryport, Cumbria, when on holiday in 2022.

Her partner, Richard Banks, then surprised her by ensuring the cabin appeared in their garden, near Oswestry in Shropshire, a few months later.

Being shortlisted for Shed of the Year has left the pair "really quite shocked and very delighted," she said, adding that "Richard's put such a lot of graft into it, down to the last little detail."

After seeing the cabin Banks set about finding out who it belonged to with social media coming to his aid.

Transporting the two tonne cabin Cumbria to Shropshire, a journey of nearly 200 miles, involved an articulated lorry and a brick lorry.

News imageRichard Banks A photograph of the cabin on the harbourside. It has rusted and is discoloured in some areas. Behind the cabin are black railings and a harbour. The sky is blue and slightly cloudy. Richard Banks
The cabin as it was when Richard and Abi spotted it in Maryport, Cumbria

The couple spent three years restoring the cabin, known as the Wheelhouse, to its former glory with a few fun additions.

The cabin originally sat aboard the Silver Fern trawler in Maryport.

Buoys have been strung along the front, a ship's wheel put inside, and a decorative post intalled outside that the cabin is "moored up" to.

News imageEllen Knight/BBC The interior of the shed - which has cream painted walls and a wooden floor. There are six small windows at the front, and a small wooden ship's wheel beneath them. A single bed is in the bottom left corner of the image, with a bright blue duvet. Ellen Knight/BBC
The shed has a working ship's wheel and even space for a single bed

A single bed has been installed so people can stop over.

Entering Shed of the Year felt like "a sort of quintessentially English eccentric thing," Banks said.

"I was already aware of it, and then when I completed the restoration I thought 'we might as well enter it!'"

News imageEllen Knight/BBC The shed, as restored by Richard and Abi. It has cream walls and a black roof, with small circular windows on the sides and larger rectangular windows on its from. There is a rope, tied on to a mooring post, and it's surrounded by grass and shrubbery. It looks out over a small ridge onto hills and more countryside. The sky is blue with some clouds. Ellen Knight/BBC
The shed looks out over Shropshire, a nod to its origins on the open waves

The Wheelhouse has made it to the final five of the 'Unexpected/Unique' category of the competition, which is in its 20th year.

The couple said they want to win for the people of Maryport.

"We've kept them updated [on the restoration] via Facebook," Banks said adding they had been supportive.

"It'd be nice to win it for Maryport, but it would also just be nicely weird to win it for a completely landlocked county such as Shropshire."

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