Style and Design
Rowlinson are known for their wide range of garden buildings which marry quality to affordability and the Little Lodge Wooden Playhouse is no exception. The building features quality materials in an attractive design and is one of the most popular and widely available playhouses in the 4' x 4' category. With its half glazed wooden door and twin windows, all in a Georgian style, the Little Lodge wooden playhouse is both an outdoor haven for children and a visual asset to the garden - definitely one to consider.
Materials/Construction
The Little Lodge is finished in shiplap tongue and groove FSC approved timber on a timber frame. The roof and floor are both OSC sheet with the roof being covered in mineral roofing grade felt. For safety the windows are glazed in 3mm styrene.
Dimensions
The building's footprint is 4'1'' x 3'10'' with a ridge height of 4'10'' giving plenty of play space for the younger child.
Finish/Treatment
The playhouse is treated in a honey brown dip prior to delivery. The purchaser will require to add a further protective/decorative coat at the time of assembly and to maintain this regularly during the life of the playhouse. The illustrated model has had a final protective coat applied.
Options
The playhouse is treated in a honey brown dip prior to delivery. The purchaser will require to add a further protective/decorative coat at the time of assembly and to maintain this regularly during the life of the playhouse. The illustrated model has had a final protective coat applied.
Delivery/Assembly
The building is delivered flat packed ready for assembly by the purchaser.
Availability
See the details of sellers and prices given above.
Our Verdict
Rowlinson's Little Lodge is a popular and widely available wooden playhouse. Its design is generally traditional in style with a ridged roof and all the windows in this case located in the front elevation. Although there are no side windows the two windows to the front along with the large window in the door should ensure the playhouse has a nice, bright interior and make it easy to see what's going on inside. There's a cutely designed front door with a pretty antique style handle and we think that all in all the overall effect and appearance of the Little Lodge is highly attractive.
It's fair to say the Little Lodge falls into the economy playhouse category and the standard and quality of build is just about what you'd expect for the price. You get smooth planed 12mm shiplap mounted on 28 x 28mm framing which, when assembled will give you quite a robust little structure which should be perfectly capable of withstanding the demands of children at play. Both roof and floor are 8mm solid osb sheet which will do the job well enough although ideally we'd prefer to have seen a few millimetres added to the floor specification. The floor is provided with four bearers which should support it reasonably well but if it seems a little flimsy you can always add some additional bearers for support. The tongue and groove nature of the structure and the felt finish to the roof should give you a strong weatherproof building with a dry interior - ideal for play and storage of small outdoor toys when not in use.
You'll need to note that in common with other playhouses of its size and price, the Little Lodge is given only a preparatory treatment prior to delivery. As a result you'll need to apply a final preservative and, if you wish, decorative finish at the time of assembly and to maintain this as required. There's a 10 year anti-rot guarantee but to benefit from this the playhouse will require to be properly treated with a recognised exterior wood preserver no more than three months after assembly and re-treated annually. We would actually recommend that you apply the first treatment just prior to assembly which should make sure no parts are missed. If you turn the wall panels upside down first, it should be easier to make sure the finish is properly applied to the tongue and groove joins. Take care to pay particular attention to the floor bearers as well.
Assembly itself shouldn't cause any great difficulties although you will need to make sure you have a few basic diy tools - and an assistant - to hand. The tools recommended are a philips type screwdriver, a hammer, a spirit level, a Stanley type knife for the roofing felt and a drill with a 4mm bit. You'll need to drill pilot holes for some of the screws so they can be easily tightened with minimum risk of splits in the wood. The instructions which are comprehensive and easy to understand indicate where this needs to be done. You may also find you need to smooth off some rough edges or to remove loose knots and fill knotholes at the time of assembly. This is pretty much to be expected with this type of construction and we don't see this as a particular issue. One point we would draw your attention to is the requirement to install the playhouse on 50 x 50mm (2 inch) cross bearers to benefit from the anti-rot guarantee. These aren't supplied and you'll need to purchase them from a diy store - B&Q and Wickes are good bets. And don't be too concerned if you can't find bearers the exact size. You should be safe enough treating 50 x 50 as a minimum specification. If you can find pre treated wood so much the better. If not, just make sure you apply plenty of preservative to the extra bearers when you're treating the rest of the playhouse. But we won't go on any more about assembly. You can download the complete instructions here (opens in a new window) so you can see exactly what's involved.
Safety is addressed in the form of smooth planed timbers, virtually unbreakable styrene windows and a child friendly magnetic door catch. As you'd expect, the Little Lodge complies with the relevant safety standards.
When everything's taken into account we think the Little Lodge is one of the better buy playhouses in this size and price category. It's slightly unusual styling means there aren't many models to directly compare it with although the Bunny is a similar design and specification and we don't think there's much to choose between the two. You may find the Bunny slightly cheaper though and it has the bonus of an opening window as well. Customer satisfaction with the Little Lodge is generally high - we've given it four wooden playhouse stars. 
