Rowlinson Chatsworth Summerhouse

Looks lovely in the pictures and now my summerhouse is up, it is lovely, but so hard to erect, not the main walls etc , but the roof took 4 of us, and with a lot of juggling etc we achieved this, to get the final price on the roof was a nightmare as its so tall. I am sure I will spend many a pleasant evening in the summerhouse, but wish I had gone for something much easier to assemble. well its up now and long may it stand.

The proportions and design are really nice but the product we received was massively let down by the build quality. It took a whole day for a professional landscape team to erect it and they had to reinforce the floor with plywood to give the structure more stability. The rigidity is not helped by the fact that the sides come as two panels instead of typically one panel. Some of the roofing felt was missing which had to be added and loads more screws were put in too. The building certainly won't last in a storm!

We did quite a bit of research as we were looking for a summerhouse for a small garden but didn't want one so small that it couldn't fit much in it.

We decided upon the Rowlinson Chatsworth summerhouse because it was just the right size for the space we wanted and was relatively inexpensive (but seemed to be quite good quality).

The internal dimensions are about 8foot 6inches by 6 foot. We have managed to find some good quality rattan furniture which allows us to fit 4 chairs and 2 coffee tables in this space, so it's a really good size for having people in there.

We also had electrics fitted so we can use it in the winter and when its dark as we have light and heating in there.

The build quality is very good for the price. Its not something you'd want to live in don't get me wrong, its not a well insulated garden office or anything like that. It is essentially a glorified shed, but for occasional use its great The wood wasn't badly warped or anything like that and it was a good quality planed surface.

We upgraded the roof to include roof shingles rather than the felt that it comes with - I felt it gave it a much more 'summerhouse' look and feel, plus the roof shingles last longer as well as look better.

The summerhouse wasn't that easy to erect and as with all sheds/small summerhouses there were bits that didnt quite fit as you'd like them too and we have a few screws sticking out where we wouldn't want them, but overall it was OK.

The glass in the windows is 'real' glass and not plastic, which gives it a quality feel. It did arrive without all the right sized glass which was a bit annoying, but Rowlinson sent out replacement glass pretty quickly so that was fine.

Importantly for us the summerhouse came in fairly small pieces which meant that we could carry it through the house very easily. As it comes in small pieces it does mean there's more work to put it together though.

We've used the summerhouse a few times now, despite the fact that its very cold outside, and it's been lovely. We've put a cheap offcut carpet down, heating and lighting and the furniture as mentioned above. It feel cosy and doesnt feel flimsy or flyaway at all.

The cost was under £1000 which is pretty good for a summerhouse of this nature.

I'd definitely recommend you look at these if you're looking for something of this kind of size. The bi-fold doors will be lovely in the summer too as we can open them up and look out onto the river at the bottom of the garden