The recent heat waves in the UK aren’t the only instigator for us to be increasingly asked to fit air conditioning and air source heat pumps in our shepherd’s huts and cabins. Previous deliveries include Southern Spain, Mediterranean islands and Portugal, and even heat pumps in a pair of shepherd’s huts in Vermont, United States. In this blog, Plankbridge co-founder Richard Lee shares his tips on how these can be fitted, as well as how you can help keep your shepherd’s hut cool naturally.
Over recent years we have facilitated air conditioning units and air source heat pumps in a variety of ways. Sometimes we simply run the various pipes ready for a local engineer to connect to a suitable system on delivery. Or we can run a conduit for the exhaust pipe on a small plug-in portable unit to tidily exit the hut.
I’m always very interested in how the shepherd’s huts are landscaped into their surroundings. As you can imagine we are lucky enough to visit some beautiful locations, from modest cottage gardens to a wider landscape setting. With regular heat waves now inevitable there are lots of ways to help mitigate the extremes.
One pleasing way to filter direct summer sun is to plant deciduous trees on the Southern and Western sides of the shepherd’s hut. What could be more idyllic than a shepherd’s hut or outbuilding sitting in the dappled shade? Being deciduous the leaves will drop in the Autumn and the hut will benefit from warm winter light. There are, of course such a wide range of sizes of trees to suit your setting and local conditions. In our area of Dorset the medium sized Field Maple, Acer Campestre, does particularly well and has lovely buttery yellow and gold autumn colours. I recently saw newly planted climbing or rambling roses that were being trained up the four corners of the hut, these reduce the temperature inside a shepherd’s hut, as well as looking and smelling wonderful.
Avoid large concrete slabs or tarmac around the base of the hut; lawns, bark mulch or dense planting are better at holding moisture in the ground. If you need to use a hard base for the groundwork, consider planting up and around with dense perennials as much as you can.
There has been talk recently of how a water feature, pond or lake can significantly reduce the temperature of the neighbouring house. It will be interesting to research this, even a water feature such as a slate sphere with running water close to the shepherd’s hut may well help reduce the air temperature a little. Running water is better than stagnant – still water might increase the humidity inside.
These natural ways may only make a small difference – although apparently urban streets benefit from a 2 to 12 degree reduction in temperature at pavement level, if there are suitable trees and shrubs planted.
An air conditioning unit, chosen and rated for the specific size of the space, will make for a very comfortable environment. A shepherd’s hut will need a unit of around 3000 to 6000 btu. Many portable units are 12000 btu and its important not to simply buy the biggest! If they are too large they ‘short cycle’, so the temperature and humidity can go haywire. So stick to the right sized unit, a portable one is fine with the pipe exiting the hut through a conduit to the outside. Remember that the wrong choice can be noisy, we’ve all experienced that in hotel rooms. I’ve found some models that are 46 decibels, which is as quiet as the hum of a fridge, or a quiet computer fan, and they have nighttime sleep settings too.
There are some more advanced units where the compressor sits outside, and the air flow unit sits wall mounted inside. Some of these are too large visually, but there are some really smart unobtrusive systems available.
Our shepherd’s huts and cabins are insulated with Thermafleece sheep’s wool, which is a very sustainable and effective choice, and we have sometimes added an aluminium quilt layer wrapped around the whole hut, under the cladding, as extra insulation for hotter climates. There are many clever ways to manage the temperature inside a shepherd’s hut or outbuilding, from reflective insulation and evaporation tanks; something that’s going to be fun to explore.
I saw the scientist Professor Hannah Fry demonstrate the fluid dynamics of opening a window on a very hot car and then rapidly opening and closing the car door, which clears and replaces the hot air. Whilst I don’t need to try this at home, as our shepherd’s hut is surrounded by pollarded willows and a new pond, this concept (and the other ideas I’ve mentioned) are fascinating.
- For more information on logistics and groundworks, read our recent blog ‘Can I put a shepherd’s hut in my garden?’
- If the hot weather has you dreaming of a Plankbridge Pool House, head over to our dedicated blog
