Across the gardens of Britain, in cities and suburbs, people are building sheds(工棚). "We have never seen such an increase in orders," says Paul Deary of the Garden Shed Company, whose family has been in the business for 35 years. "People have gone shed crazy." The Timber Trade Federation reports that in October, the last month for which statistics are available, imports of softwood were 34% higher than a year earlier. With stocks(存货) running low, what wood is available is quickly sold out.

A garden shed used to be mostly a place to store tools, or a place to discuss how to grow flowers, and enjoy tea and snacks while the rain falls outside, according to Michael Rand, an expert gardener. But the creative brainworker has long put it to more productive use. Roald Dahl and Dylan Thomas wrote in sheds. George Bernard Shaw had one in his Hertfordshire garden that faced the sun.

The structures now being built are also often intended for work, although they are grander than the ones those pioneer shed-writers used. Green Retreats, which mostly builds garden offices but also garden gyms and the like, says that overall sales grew by 113% between 2019 and 2020. Larger, prettier structures with things like white walls are especially popular.

This has an important effect on cities. Urban scholars like Richard Florida and Edward Glaeser are busy trying to work out whether the rise in home-working that has occurred during COVID-19 will continue when the virus ebbs. If it does, many service jobs in cities, from waiters to taxi drivers, will disappear. Public-transport systems will struggle. The value of city-centre property will drop.

The shed craze makes that outcome more likely. A white-collar worker who has tried to work from the kitchen table for the past nine months might be keen(渴望的) to return to the office. A worker who has a beautiful garden shed with Wi-Fi will be less so. Joel Bird, who builds personalized sheds, is certain that his customers foresee a long-term change in their working habits. "They don't consider it to be temporary," he says. "They're spending too much money."