TWO friends have launched a new business venture that they believe will enable more people to quit the rat race and work much closer to home.

Award-winning Kendal architect Richard Oates and Mick Hoffe, a business coach and production engineer, are making self-contained offices and studios that can be built in customers' back gardens.

But far from being glorified garden sheds, the units are built to last and provide a self-contained and eco-friendly workspace.

They will initially be built and installed by the pair, who have opened a workshop in Sedbergh to start production, but they plan to take on four staff once the business, zencabins.co.uk, starts to take off.

For the full story, get the Gazette