Shed of the Year: Hedgehog hospital from Ludlow nominated for award - with pictures

The PrickleBum shed was named after creator Ailie Hill's hedgehog sanctuary in Ludlow and has enough room to house 22 of the little creatures.

It has made it to the national shortlist of 32 other similarly unusual buildings battling it out to be named the Cuprinol Shed of the Year.

Competition founder Andrew Wilcox said: "Every year I am overwhelmed with the nation's love of sheds and how they really get behind this celebration of British eccentricity."

The hedgehog hospital has been jokingly nicknamed the Tardis, after the police box from Doctor Who, because it seems bigger on the inside than on the outside.

The shed includes everything needed for housing sick, injured or orphaned wild British hedgehogs during their treatment and rehabilitation at the PrickleBums Hedgehog Rescue, based at Pipe Aston in Ludlow.

All materials required and items used within were bought as seconds, from charity shops, are recycled or were donated to the Rescue.

Sheds have been nominated in eight categories, from environmentally-friendly buildings and historic extravaganzas to those built on a budget and cabins and summerhouses.

Other sheds house cinemas, are decorated in sci-fi and fantasy themes or are set out as a whisky bar for a group of friends to meet, play board games and "talk nonsense".

Captain Mark Lowen's shed in Buzzard, Bedfordshire, holds a commercial Boeing 737 flight simulator.

Now in its 10th year, the competition shows no signs of creaking - the shortlist came from a record 2,963 entries.

The shortlisted outhouses will go "shed-to-shed" on TV programme Amazing Spaces Shed Of The Year, shown on Channel 4 this summer.

Voting to choose the category winners opens on May 18, and people have until noon on June 2 to pick their favourite for Shed of the Year.

To see the full shortlist and cast a vote, visit readershed.co.uk