Sheds - as in SS and FFO

[Philip Mannering]

I never had a shed at all! I wish I could.

Secret meeting place... how tempting these magical words are.

[Rob Houghton]

My friend and I always wanted a shed when we were younger, but neither of us had one. the nearest we got was crouching in the coal shed on top of a pile of coal, but we soon gave that up!!

We made lots of dens, though, usually with poles and old blankets. Once we made one that covered my friends back lawn, out of a table, some old chairs, deckchairs and bits of wood and clothes horses, all covered with old 'army' blankets pegged together. I remember it had three or four rooms and was quite dark and stuffy, but we seemed to spend days playing in it before we took it apart.

One time we caught hundreds of grasshoppers in a giant coffee jar and decided to let them all out in one of our dens: what an experience!

[Ming]

Our "real home" a few roads away from where I live - I call that a real home because it had mango, jackfruit, starfruit trees, a garden, hiding places, parrots (wild ones), a pet African Grey parrot, rabbits, and cats - is totally a shed. It's full of tools and machines and golf sets and things like that. When we moved away from that house I really wanted my hiding places in the garden, veranda and porch back!!

My little brother makes little dens with boxes and blankets and it's such fun to see him play "house"! Though for him "house" means hammering and fixing things.

[hope189]

Ming, your old house sounds like something out of the books!

[Petermax]

Sheds! It is every childs dream to have a shed. As an eleven year old back in 1977, I was ecstatic when my father constructed a very sturdy shed for use as a workshop. Naturally, my merry band of friends and myself soon commandeered the building for use as a gang hut. We soon installed hidden compartments for our secret files, catapults and other deadly objects. Most important of all of course was a notice on the door warning all comers of the dire consequences of entering our domain!

Once our squatters rights had been thoroughly asserted, then we soon got to work on improving security. Top of our list was a bolt on the inside of the door in order to exclude my younger sister. She had a very unfortunate habit of infiltrating our top secret meetings, Susie style!

32 years on and that same shed still stands, being part of the property that I inherited from my father a few years ago. Nowadays I use it as a workshop, although the hidden compartments are still there!


Little has changed since 1977 except for the large window to allow more light onto the workbench.



I nailed this warning notice to the shed door before my father had even finished its construction. It now resides for posterity just inside the shed entrance. HQ, Enter at your own risk.
EDIT: TYPO

[Lucky Star]

Looks great Petermax. Many good memories there I would imagine.

[Stephen]

We had a fairly large concrete shed with three rooms (including a toilet!). Unfortunately my father was (indeed still is) the world's biggest hoarder and it was filled with all kinds of junk - gardening equipment, furniture, newspapers going back years, tins of paint et cetera. It was pretty fascinating to stand in what little space there was behind the door and stare at all this clutter (despite the fact there were probably dozens of spiders scuttling around ). But although it was the place I immediately associated with my mental image of the Wishing Chair playroom, there was no way I could hope to re-enact those stories!

Funnily enough, it's just the same now. I now live in a large detached house converted into flats, and the communial garden contains a huge wooden chalet. I've popped in a few times, but it's full of residents' clutter. I could fit my Wishing Chair inside, but there won't be enough room for me to be playing in there with my friends, waiting for the wings to appear!

[DirtyDick]

This thread made me smile so much.

Sheds are so fascinating to children, my cousins and I spent time at our grandmothers house during the summer and the shed was as it was for so many others our den. We used it for practical purposes like storing our bikes but also for sitting and playing in. We used to talk about it being like the shed in the Secret Seven.

Just writing this I can smell the shed, hear the creak of the door opening, see the sunlight coming in through the window and the cobwebs on the roof.

When i bought my house I got a shed too and I must admit initially it felt great to have a shed again. I'll be spending some time in the shed this weekend, but that will be for cleaning it out playing and planning adventures

[221b]

Just one of the things in FFO that I took sheer delight in, was Fatty's fantastic shed nestling at the foot of his garden.

I often used to re-read the chapters where everyone huddled around the oil stove, munching biscuits and drinking hot chocolate while discussing tactics, clues, suspects and planning their next move

It made me yearn for a similar 'shed' or den of my own which I could fill with luscious things and secret notebooks and so on.

It got me thinking about the 'Englishman and his shed' and what these special spaces mean to us. I have a firm picture in my head of what Fatty's shed looks like and I don't recall there being *that* many illustrations of the interior in the books.

So I thought I'd gather your thoughts on how Fatty's shed looks to you, in your imagination as you're picturing the crowded scenes and turning the pages...

So, FFO Fans, I have two questions for you: 1) What does Fatty's shed look like to you? and 2) What would your own 'special den' look like if you had one at the bottom of your garden?

Opportunity for flights of fancy and wild imagination

[Petermax]

So, FFO Fans, I have two questions for you: 1) What does Fatty's shed look like to you? and 2) What would your own 'special den' look like if you had one at the bottom of your garden?
Opportunity for flights of fancy and wild imagination

I have to confess 221b, that I have yet to read a F.F.O book, I somehow by-passed these. I can however, give some input on the subject of sheds, as this subject has been discussed fairly recently. Feel free to have a look at my childhood shed, still very much in use 32 years on.

[bilgewaters]

Fattys shed!what a box of delights,cosy and safe, we had an attic with windows frontand back where i would retreat anf read the latest F.F.O. it contained my modt precious things,MY BOOKS! i've got a study now, but it serves the same purpose.Ah! such happy days.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I've merged the two "shed" topics into one long, glorious shedfest!

I imagine Fatty's shed to be fairly large as sheds go and to be in a state of organised chaos. There might be an assortment of old coats, umbrellas and hats (a little musty-smelling) hanging on a stand, a chest of drawers bulging with wigs, moustaches, beards, cheek pads, greasepaint and the like, boxes or cupboards containing old trousers, petticoats and things, a box of boots and shoes, and shelves crammed with books about disguising, detective work, secret codes, etc. There would usually be a tin of biscuits to hand and a bag of toffees or bull's eyes, together with ginger-beer and lemonade in glass bottles. Several of the books mention a tiger-skin rug on the floor and a crocodile skin pinned to the wall. What do the children sit on - upturned flowerpots and wooden crates? I imagine the other Find-Outers would help to make the place cosy and homely by bringing in things like pictures, rugs and cushions. Bets might pick flowers from the garden and arrange them in a vase or jug. And didn't Ern once make a little wooden table for Fatty? I imagine that would be in the shed too. No doubt there would also be boxes of bits and bobs collected by Fatty just in case they might come in useful. In a drawer the children would keep notebooks and various papers relating to the mysteries they'd solved, including newspaper cuttings.

A wonderful place in which to rummage around, have a feast, play games or sit and read a book!

As children, my sister and I used to have a shed. We absolutely loved it - I'll say more about it when I have a bit more time.

Anita

[Rob Houghton]

Funnily enough, even though I loved the Find Outers as a child, I didnt read that many until later (just Burnt Cottage, Holly Lane, Pantomime cat and Tally-ho cottage) so the shed I was most envious of was the Secret Seven's shed. It always seemed so cosy, particularly in the winter stories, and I loved the idea of only being able to get inside after you said the password. I think of Peter's shed (even though it fitted seven and sometimes eight people!) as being smaller than Fatty's shed, which I imagine to have a table, chest of drawers, proper chairs etc, whereas Peter's I imagine would have just crates and pots to sit on and a small fold-up table.

[Fiona1986]

I always imagine Fatty's shed as rather large, the size of a small garage. In it I see the wood burning stove, a chest of drawers crammed with all of fatty's disguising bits and pieces, some books on shelves, a coat stand with old hats and coats on, and some boxes with yet more disguising and investigating things. I've always imagined Fatty to have odd garden furnature to sit on - a deck chair and a bench with a rug over it for example.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I think of Peter's shed (even though it fitted seven and sometimes eight people!) as being smaller than Fatty's shed...

I always imagine Fatty's shed as rather large, the size of a small garage.

I too have always imagined Fatty's shed to be larger than Peter and Janet's. Maybe that's because Enid Blyton describes his shed as being full of clobber (things for detecting and disguising) whereas Peter and Janet's shed - except on rare occasions such as the time the gardener stores his onions there - seems to be relatively empty except for the seats (flowerpots and boxes) and a shelf to hold orangeade and buns. Doesn't Enid Blyton sometimes refer to Fatty's shed as his "workroom"? That adds to the impression of it being fairly roomy.

Anita