Cost: From £5000

Best for: treating visitors to a cosy, romantic retreat at the bottom of your garden.

Modern shepherd huts are practical, eco-friendly and easy to install. With space for a bed, kitchenette and bathroom, they measure 6ft 6in wide and are based on Victorian designs that housed roving shepherds. You don’t need planning permission and you can take it with you if you move. They come fully assembled and don't require expensive foundations.

They have high-performance insulation and double-glazed windows and can house woodburning stoves and underfloor heating.

Shepherd huts, made with long-lasting corrugated iron or painted timber, cost from £5000 for a simple shell design, to more than £18,000 for a bespoke hut with plumbing, kitchen sink and electrics. The hut pictured is from Plankbridge and measures 1.84m wide by 2.3m

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Cost: From £6000

Best for: adding extra living space without knocking down walls

The latest hi-tech glazing panels make it easier than ever to build a glass room that looks stylish and is comfortable all year round. Companies such as Apropos, Trombe and Glass Space, which specialise in building with glass, offer cutting-edge conservatories that can be built in a week. Unless you’re in a conservation area, building regulations won’t apply if your addition is less than 30 square metres, glazed and has an external door from the house. Prices start from £6000, with bespoke designs costing as much as £40,000. Solve the privacy problem with integrated blinds or glass that frosts up at the flick of a switch.

This glass extension costs £31,000 plus VAT, from www.glass-space.com

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Cost: From £1350 a square metre.

Best for: weekend visits from friends and family.

Built using prefabricated panels, this pod is under 30 square metres and 2.5 metres tall and so planning permission shouldn’t be needed. When you don’t have guests staying it can double as a games room or home office. You can add electric and plumbing facilities.’

This garden pod is made with FSC-certified timber, has insulated panels, energy-saving glass, and a sedum roof or solar panels. From £1350 a sq metre, Roost

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Cost: From £1899.

Best for: getting away from it all.

DIY stores such as Homebase, B&Q and Wickes, plus specialists including Dunster House, sell flat-packed sheds with double glazing and insulated walls - insulation is vital in this country after dusk. You won’t need planning permission but your shed will need regular coats of wood preserve. You'll need to ensure windows and doors can be locked securely. These dens can cost you anything from a few hundred pounds up to £6500 for something with insulated walls and double glazing, plus £1000 for an insulated foundation.

This garden den with double glazing and insulated walls, is called the Life Space Premium garden building and costs £6311.89, Wickes

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Cost: from £6000.

Best for: making space for grown-up children.

These studio flats are built using hi-tech structural insulated panels (SIPs), which are strong and efficient timber walls. Your studio can be built in just a few days using the panels, and several companies will deliver the completed building and crane it onto the foundations. You shouldn’t need planning permission if it’s five metres from the house, one metre from any boundary, takes up no more than 50 per cent of the garden and is less than 30 square metres. Building regulations still apply for gas, electric and plumbing installations. Seek the advice of a planning officer if you want to use it as a permanent bedroom. Expect to pay £6000 for a basic insulated, double-glazed studio, and if installing plumbing, electricity and a bathroom, budget from £20,000.

The O-Pod shown here is highly insulated for year-round use. Fully wired 4m dia, £11,000 plus VAT, EcoHab Dome Homes

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Cost: From £20,000

Best for: creating extra living space downstairs

The Qube is an ingenious building method that can add a dining area, extra living room or downstairs bedroom in just a few days, using the same high-quality prefabricated panels as many garden rooms and flat-pack kit houses. In essence, using the Qube you can create an entirely new style of conservatory – one that looks like a proper room with plaster walls and standard windows, but doesn’t require planning permission. The life expectancy of structural insulated panel (SIP) buildings is more than 50 years, far longer than many conservatories. Providing high levels of insulation, SIP buildings are incredibly strong and use far fewer virgin trees than traditional methods, making them a greener choice too. ‘What’s more,’ explains Mike Spittle from Qube, ‘total construction time is fast; delivery is as quick as four to six weeks from the date of order, then it takes just one week to build it.’ Prices start from £20,000 from Qube.

Pictured: With a traditional shape and plaster walls, the Qube feels like a standard room, but is as easy to install as a conservatory

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