And the winner is The Kite Cabin owned by Steven Harwood from Llandysul near Carmarthen, West Wales. "I entered Shed of the Year because I feel I have a very special shed in a very special place," said Steven. "The location is unbeatable in my opinion with amazing panoramic views. It is surrounded by nature including kites, badgers and various birds. It is such a useable space and is not pre-ordered like so many sheds these days. It is a realisation of my idea and I love it. I hope that my cabin will be an inspiration for others and what can be done in an otherwise dead space."

Steven's prizes include a year’s supply of cheese from the Cheeseshed.com, a £50 voucher from Wyevale Garden Centres, a unique shed cushion and a wind-up Trevor Bayliss radio.

Uncle Wilco, organiser of Shed of the Year said: “This is the third year we have run the competition and each time I am astounded by the quality of the sheds that our sheddies create, they put everything into it. From off-the-shelf sheds that the sheddie have decorated and turned into their own escapes, to hand-built ecosheds and workshops, the range of talents of the British public is unbelievable.”

The judges of Shed of the Year commented:

Sarah Beeny, TV property developer."The shed quality gets better and better each year - it seems more and more people are embracing the joy of sheds! Though I was tempted by Grumpy’s Palace as it looks just like my office, The Kite Cabin was perfect! Well done!!"

Chris Evans, TV personality and Radio 2 DJ: "Grumpy's shed was a great shed but nothing that nice and welcoming should be called grumpy - I'm saying next year change the name and you’re in with a shout, son. The disco shed so nearly got my vote for obvious reasons - DJ love etc - but let's face it, it's not a shed, it is in fact a vehicle born out of the most extreme capitalist culture and although, whilst spreading music, lights and fun where ere it may come to rest, pitch up and plug in, it is nevertheless, at its very core, a money-making wooden machine on wheels. In my opinion my favourite is the delightful, delectable, cool yet not pretentious - Dingly Dell. A shed indeed fit for a princess."

Alex Johnson, Editor of Shedworking.co.uk: "National Shed Week once again showcases the many ways in which the shed concept is central to the lives of millions of people, not just in the UK, but around the planet. The finalists have again shown that there is really no limit to the ways in which we can use the smallest room not in the house. Surely it's time that television property programmes stopped concentrating on 'grand designs' and started focusing on 'small wonders'?"

Rico Daniels, TV’s Salvager: "Of all the sheds featured the Kite Cabin is the one I would most like to own and spend time in. The construction is both unusual and visually appealing, making novel use of a difficult plot. It creates the sort of hideaway that would lift your spirits as you approached it and again as you enjoyed the interior and the views it offers . It is well-appointed and low-impact making good use of alternative technology and the ease with which it sits in the landscape makes it a real contender in my view."

Tim McNeil, Shed of the Year 2008 winner: "What a difficult job with so many beautiful sheds. You have to admire the eco shed for the amount of work that went into it as carefully recounted by the owner and the substantial building he created and the ecological case. However, the one that really took my breath away was Kite Cabin. I would love to have designed it and built it - and to own it must be just fantastic."

Tony Rogers, Shed of the Year 2007 winner: “The Kite Cabin -It's all his own design and build too. The view out down the garden is fantastic. With a TV, satellite, stove, carpets, video, telescope, toilet and beds. What more could you need. Maybe a phone to order the take-aways! Do they deliver take-aways to the top of the garden in West Wales

It's the fourth annual National Work From Home Day in the UK today and I think this year is a bit of a turning point: there seems to be more interest and more publicity, maybe because of the current economic climate. You can see what I'm up to at my Shedworking blog (please drop in and say hi, especially if you're working from home) and there's a good twitter mashup at Speed Communication's site. More details about the whole week of related events at Work Wise UK.

Of course there are a lot of clichés about working from home (here's the opening few words from The Guardian's story - "Put on the kettle. Don't bother to shave or dress smartly" - that's simply not an accurate reflection of what working from home is like) but the truth is that millions of people already do it, and millions of more could do so if their employers were prepared to let them. It's a good deal for everybody - a better life-balance for the homeworker (usually) and a more efficient worker for the employer (usually) not to mention being greener.

The only downside is there's nowhere to play snooker in my house.

Man Caves is a regular television series on the DIY Network in the USA which focuses on how to make your own 'Man Cave', with presenters Jason Cameron and Tony 'The Goose' Siragusa. So for example the upcoming Friday show looks at how to create a surfers paradise in your basement and previous episodes have been devoted to a Golf Garage and motorcycle den. There's a marvellous slideshow too of past successes which include various pool table hangouts. This is of course the ideal for all snooker and pool players, in terms of improving your game easily and also not wading through the snow during winter to the snooker club. I'm moving house in a fortnight and there is a largeish cellar in the new place so maybe...

We've talked before about 'sexing up' snooker and while on the whole I'm against change, I'm sure it will come as surely as Twenty Twenty has come to cricket. Here's something that might encourage the youth of today to pick up a cue (albeit currently only available in titchy pool size), a 6ft Debut Lunar  pool table which is MP3 compatible and comes with 80w speakers as well as centre ball return. It's not my cup of tea, but then I'm not sure I'm the future of the sport. Especially after last night's performance on the big green baize.

Drama this week as I came the closest I've yet been to living out that finest of clichés, the fight in the snooker hall.

At our latest gathering in the new club, we were enjoying some fine play. I don't think it would be too immodest to say that in my first two frames of the evening I was 'on fire'. Then at the start of the third frame, one of the players on the neighbouring table barked across at me and my playing partner: "Hey, keep the noise down. We're here to play snooker."

In one sense he had a fair point. Just previous to his barking, we had been discussing whether Tom Jones would be a suitable choice for a Book Group. And we were probably discussing it too loudly since we were onto our third pint. And in our previous club, that would have been fine. Nobody would have heard us over the piped in hiphop nonsense. At the new club, it's a little more like a library/museum atmosphere. It's much calmer and that's obviously a good thing. I hold up my hands on the inconsequential yacking charge.

But this chap didn't have a quiet word, he snapped loudly (and maybe misguidedly - he was in his late 60s, us four are all in our early 40s and really quite large, if not actually menacing). And while he could have put it more offensively, it was an outburst that brought every game to a halt around us as people stared at him.

My partner and I were virtually silent for the rest of the frame while we seethed and I'm afraid to say I let it get to me and my game fell apart.

When barking man packed up to leave I went across and apologised for being too loud but pointed out that maybe an earlier, and more civil, intervention would have done the trick and left us all happy. He brushed past me and shouted over his shoulder: "Learn by your mistakes". I'm not quite sure what he meant by that and once again reminded him that politeness is the virtue of kings, but I admit that I was pleased to hear another player, a stranger, from another corner of the room, answer him back: "There's only one arsehole in this room and we know who it is."

And to top it all, he wasn't even that good.

I'm hoping he's not back again next week.

Stephen Hendry is in great nick and to prove that he's capable of winning the World Championship he's just notched up a 147 at the World Championship against Shaun Murphy in his quarter-final. A great feat and not without its dicier moments (wait until you see the last black...).

You can watch the last few minutes of it at the BBC site.

But keep an eye on Mark Selby - he almost had a 100% potting score in the first three frames against John Higgins (he missed the final pink after compiling a century break).

It would be fair to say that our first evening at the new snooker club was an unqualified success. When I was 10, the local swimming pool was replaced by something without broken tiles, slippery floors and dirt. It was even cleaned using ozone rather than chlorine. It was a revelation. That's what it was like at the new snooker club. Apart from the ozone.

St Albans Snooker Club (part of the Hurricane Rooms chain) is a bit out of town but inside it's a welcoming atmosphere, with a healthy number of reasonable players and stacks of snooker tables. Dave the barman is friendly and helpful, the tables are all in good nick (a bit faster than we've been used to but that's not a worry) and all the cues have tips on. Why we didn't make the move years ago I don't know.

And it's open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Now that's what I call customer service.

Last year I watched most of the matches on television. This year I haven't seen a frame on the box as I'm using the BBC's live feed online. I'm enjoying it too as I'm listening/watching while I work. I just wondered how many people were doing the same thing. How are you enjoying the snooker?

The start of the World Championship is one of those madeleine moments for me: I moved school in 1983 at Easter time and when I started my first new term, the whole year was absolutely absorbed by the world championships (or at least used them as an excuse for being late to lessons). Whenever I think of the tournament now, I have a very strong sense of being back in the television room watching the likes of Jim Meadowcroft and Rex Williams, eating toast and not knowing exactly where I had to go when the bell rang. Just as with Marcel, it only takes the briefest of mentions for me to suddenly feel 12 again.

Of course 1983 was a cracking year for another Canadian, Cliff Thorburn. He made the first ever 147 at the championships (against Terry Griffiths), halting Big Bill Werbeniuk's game on the next table due to the drama, and bringing the commentator Jack Karnehm off his independent commentator's pedestal (just before the last black, Karnehm quite rightly said "Good luck"). But it was a late finish, as were his next games against Kirk Stevens and Tony Knowles and he got a pasting from Steve Davis (though Thorburn also had some personal issues at that time which probably played on his mind too).

Do you have any similar madeleine moments, either from watching or playing? Please do share them.

---

This Wednesday we start a new era of our Wednesday Night Snooker club in St Albans as we abandon Riley's (well, they abandoned us really, of course) and head for pastures new. I'll let you know how it goes...

So we turned up last night at our local Rileys in St Albans for our regular Wednesday night session to be greeted by padlocked grills and a note explaining that the company's administrators Ernst & Young had closed it (along with about 30 more around the country). Sad news naturally for the staff and the end of an era for us: we decamped to the Verulam Arms for several pints of Black Sheep as a tribute to the many happy hours we've spent there.

To be honest, we've seen it coming for a while. I've not been to other Rileys clubs around the country, but when we first started playing there three years ago it was lively, busy, well managed and offered big screen televisions, video jukeboxes and even staff bringing our food and drinks to our table. Last week, none of the above were in evidence. We'd been joking for a while about buying the premises and kitting it out as a private members' club and knew the end was probably nigh, but it has all been rather sudden.

There is another club nearby to which we shall now decamp. It's a more traditional snooker hall than Rileys, one for people who want to play snooker rather than enjoy a leisure experience so maybe it is all for the best...

Snooker: My favourite shot on 12seconds.tv

As Twitter is to Facebook, so 12seconds.tv is to seesmic. On 12seconds you have, unsurprisingly, 12 seconds to record your message. Above I tell you in rather brief detail about my favourite shot in snooker. Please do join up, record your own message and let us know which ones you favour.

It amazes me that Steve Davis is not regarded as a sporting god: the man is 51 and has just qualified for the final at the Crucible for the 28th time. I'll just say that again - the 28th time. Or to put it another way, the first time he qualified, I was 10. Not only that, he came back from 5-0 down to beat Lee Spick. Is there any sportsman or woman in the world of a similar age and still right at the top of their sport? I can't think of any. Here he is in younger days, making the first televised 147. Marvellous to see the dapper John Spencer too.

In the heady days of the first dot.com boom, it seemed that no self-respecting loss-making start-up was complete without a table football game somewhere on the premises. And I'd argue that's why so many of them went to the wall. What they should have put in were snooker tables. One business which is more farsighted is the Gummo Advertising Agency whose new offices, as recently detailed by designboom, have been redesigned by interior architects i29. Not only did they do the new fitout with commendably ecofriendly secondhand furniture and materials, they added in the rather special extra above.

Isn't it great when two of your interests overlap? I have yet to enjoy a peformance of early music during half time at a Telford United game, nor have I ever seen a bookshelf made out of lupins, but the idea of playing snooker in a shed is a more realistic possibility.

The concept of having a table in your shed in the back garden in which to hone your skills is a very appealing one. The main reason why my game is improving so slowly (ok, one of the reasons) is that I only play three or four frames once a week, less frequently during the summer. Now, if I could rig up a waterproofed small building with a snooker table in it - even a half size - I could nip out at regular intervals for a crafty quarter of an hour and concentrate on my many weak areas.

Of course I'm by no means the first to come up with this marvellous thought. Pictured above (courtesy of John Coupe from Secrets of Shed Building.com) is an example from a Victorian catalogue of a shedlike atmosphere specifically built by the leading suppliers of prefab wooden buildings in their day, Boulton & Paul (they even made the huts for Scott's expedition to the Antarctic). Indeed, the marvellous readersheds.co.uk site has several examples of sheddies who have converted their sheds into pool and snooker palaces. One of my favourites is The Kestrel Club (pictured below) belonging to James. Who wouldn't want one of these close at hand?

It's easy to be unsporting in a frame of snooker. When we play on a Wednesday night, we often tend to go the other way, not simply encouraging each other to play better or build higher breaks, but also (depending on the situation) not always putting up every foul shot or overlooking a mild nudge on a ball. We play with the rules rather than by the rules.

And since we're all gentlemen of honour and fine standing, it's always seemed a bit, well, sneaky to attempt to snooker each other. Not unsporting as such, but somehow a departure from the usual genial atmosphere. This is obviously ridiculous. Nobody would suggest that Steve Davis is somehow behaving dishonorably by putting Jimmy White in a snooker. Quite the reverse, he's applauded for the fine touch. Snooker is as much about playing safe as potting.

In our frames, however, we tend to go for everything. We do play safe sometimes when there is truly nothing on, but there's almost no shot that we won't attempt, even fantastically foolhardy ones that would make a professional blanch. So by trying to lay a snooker, we're departing from an unwritten rule and anyone who attempts one is very likely to be met by a communal intake of breath.

The other reason we don't usually do it is that we're not really good enough.

It's hard enough to concentrate on one's game at the best of times, even for a professional. A cough here, somebody standing in your eyeline, accidentally knocking your beer over - they can all mean a bad miss. So imagine how much harder it must have been for Mark Selby when his former manager George Barmby served him a writ just as he was about to start his quarter-final match live on television at the Welsh Open.
Unsurprisingly, Selby lost to Anthony Hamilton, 5-3.

There's not a vast amount of snooker-themed art, but among those inspired by the delights of the table is former welder Cedric Christie. An interesting piece at artfacts.net looks at some of his work using snooker balls, including his Yellow Curve (above) and installation Station of the Cross (below). Here's how they describe the latter:


Photos by Paul Tucker, courtesy Rocket Gallery

I mentioned yesterday that the first ever snooker podcast had just been unveiled, but I wrote too soon. It's actually the second because On The Baize has been going since the start of the year. It comes from CueSport TV and also features pool as well as snooker on a weekly basis. You'll want to subscribe to both of them, of course.

That's what it says on the tin at Dave Hendon's Snooker Scene blog. Hendon - snooker's equivalent of the late Bill Frindall as well as a fine journalist and blogger in his own right - plans to unleash the world's first snooker-themed podcast on February 3 and it will include an interview with Snooker Scene editor and wellknown television commentator Clive Everton about his career and views on various players and snooker moments. It will be at the very least interesting and entertaining and may possibly be rather controversial. To listen, you need to sign up here.

There's been far too much written - and written rather wildly - about the death of snooker, largely, it seems to me, on the basis of one outburst by Ronnie O (who, while admittedly a marvellous player to watch, may not necessarily be the person you'd want guiding an entire sport's future progress). I'm with the Hendryites who believe that it's nice to have at least one international sport with some modicum of dignity about it.

However, if it does need some sexing up, then I think there's one obvious area where a big splash could be made: the table. Here's an example of how it could look with a bit of a revamp, images via the fine folk at Hurricane Custom Billiards. What do you think? Could you see yourself playing on this?