18/08/2026
The office at the bottom of the garden doesn't take a holiday
Six weeks of summer holidays means a lot of home-run businesses across the Solent are quieter than usual during the day — kids off school, days out, the odd staycation. Which is exactly when a garden office sat empty from 10am to 4pm becomes worth a second glance to the wrong sort of person.
In 40 years doing this job, I've seen the same pattern every August: opportunist theft goes up, not because criminals plan harder, but because we all get a bit more relaxed. A garden office is often further from the house, out of sight of the street, and holding exactly the kind of kit — laptops, monitors, tools, stock — that's easy to carry and easy to sell on.
A well-placed CCTV camera doesn't just catch what happens. It stops most of it happening in the first place. If you run your business from the garden, it's worth knowing exactly what's watching your workspace while you're at the beach.