Until today, I thought sheds were the preserve of men.

In my youth, it was a certain type of man, one who wore a flat cap and fob watch and kept pigeons at his allotment.

But now sheds are trendy, they are the in-thing, a must-have. Everyone who is anyone has a shed. There are books about sheds - I do, in fact, know a man who wrote one - there television programmes about sheds, and countless newspaper articles extolling their virtues.

Their popularity as a retreat from the world has grown hugely, but they have remained essentially a man thing. A place where they sit tinkering with motorcycle parts, writing novels, making model steam engines, carving wood - you name it, a man will be doing it in a shed.

And now, so might be a woman, as women seemed to have cottoned on to benefits of shed life and are making setting themselves up in their own garden havens.

The so-called ‘she shed’ is taking over back gardens, as females create their own mini-paradise. Unlike the often male shed, with its basic trappings, the she shed is emerging as a bit of a twee getaway, painted rustic colours and adorned with pretty throws, cushions and homeware accessories.

It’s less Fred Dibner more Kirsty Allsop. But I’d really like one.

I’d like to get my own back on my own husband, who spends hours in his shed. How he occupies his time in there I do not know - there’s only so much you can do with bags of compost and seeds trays. I’ve carried out the odd search of the eight foot by four foot structure but have yet to find any top-shelf magazines.

York Press:

In for a makeover? Helen's garden shed

I unearthed a couple of well-thumbed books on allotment gardening, however, so maybe I was wrong to be suspicious and his bottom-of-the garden pursuits are entirely innocent.

But whatever he does down there - and I am certain that this is why all men love their sheds - it puts space between him and the house. If I need him I have either to trek all the way down there or shout, very loudly, and disturb all the neighbours.

So I tend to leave him be. And that is the appeal. A place all your own, devoid of interruption, surrounded by things you like, and where you can really be yourself.

The problem is, we have one shed, and a lovely one at that, with a pantiled roof, window and climbing rose spilling round the door. We don’t need two. But I have an idea. Adding a woman’s touch to my husband’s shed - I am thinking Laura Ashley/Kath Kidston. It would scare the living daylights out of my husband and he would probably abandon the shed, leaving it free for me to move in.