Garden Room Gym, Stockport, Manchester

Garden Room Gym, Stockport

The demands of work and family life inspired Matthew and Laura to create their own “doorstep” garden room gym in Stockport, Manchester and avoid costly fitness membership.

Frustrated over a lack of time to exercise, the busy couple enlisted the help of Rubicon Garden Rooms to develop a state-of-the-art gym in their back garden to help them maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Surrounded by flowers and trees, the garden room gym is equipped with top end training machines including a treadmill which enables its user to “run” anywhere in the world thanks to a sophisticated screen.

With wall-to-ceiling mirrors, the 5.5m by 6m gym also doubles up as a specialist boxing training facility with interchangeable punching bag. 

The couple, who live in Stockport, have a two-year-old son and have found it increasingly difficult to use their monthly gym membership alongside work commitments. Matthew, 35, works in the financial services industry while his wife, 31, works four days a week as a project manager.

“My wife is diabetic and needs regular exercise to regulate her sugars,” explained Matthew.

“It just became increasingly challenging to get to the local gym. The idea of a garden room gym was to enable my wife to exercise on those evenings when I’m busy working and a visit to the gym is impractical. It’s turned out invaluable – she wouldn’t be able to get to the gym otherwise.

“All of my wife’s friends who are also young mothers find it hard to fit in exercise. The first six months of a new baby is a really important time and just getting to the shops is hard enough. If your partner works long hours then it is even more difficult.

“Now we have flexibility and can exercise without needing any travel time. It’s the difference between being able to train we want to train three or four times a week or not at all. We can also choose the equipment that’s exactly right for us so that any time is enjoyable and carries maximum benefit. It’s all about convenience.”

The gym has spotlighting throughout and benefits from an overhanging roof which adds to the aesthetics of the garden. It also matches the couple’s white cottage thanks to a fresh white K-Rend textured finish and the bifold doors can open up fully to provide an unfettered view of the garden.

Matthew hired a landscaping company to enhance the area surrounding the gym and opted for specialist, non-slip gym flooring to maximise his boxing training.

Rubicon Garden Rooms were recommended to Matthew by a family friend who had previously had a garden room built and talked highly of the team. 

“Rubicon was super professional and there was nothing negative at all. We would recommend them to everyone,” he said.

“John suggested a few tweaks here and there to our original plans which made it even better. It really has made a difference to our lives. It’s a great stress reliever and great for mental wellbeing. It is absolutely money well spent.”