Garden offices became a thing during lockdown and never went away. Most of London's back gardens now have one. And about a year after the office goes up, the same conversation starts: "The WiFi's rubbish out here." Three ways to fix it. They're not equal.
Method 1: WiFi mesh node or extender (worst)
The simplest option. Buy a mesh node (eero, TP-Link Deco, Netgear Orbi) or a WiFi extender. Plug one in inside the house near a window facing the garden. Plug the other in inside the garden office. They talk to each other over WiFi.
Where it works: if the office is less than about 8 metres from the house and the path between is mostly open with minimal wall and window in the way. A studio in a small London back garden, set close to the house, sometimes works on mesh alone.
Where it fails: longer gardens. Brick boundary walls. Double-glazed windows (which contain a thin metal film that blocks WiFi). Heavy rain. Wet leaves on trees in summer (yes, really — water absorbs 2.4GHz). The mesh "works" but at quarter speed, and drops out at random times.
Verdict: Try it first if the office is close to the house and you've already got a mesh kit. If it works, brilliant. If it's flaky, escalate to method 2 or 3 rather than throwing more mesh nodes at the problem.
Method 2: Point-to-point wireless bridge (decent, middle ground)
A specialised pair of outdoor WiFi units, one mounted on the back wall of the house, one mounted on the front wall of the garden office, aimed directly at each other. They communicate on a dedicated wireless link — usually 5GHz — and act as a wireless extension of your wired network.
The common kit for this is Ubiquiti's UniFi Building-to-Building Bridge or the TP-Link Pharos series. Both are weatherproof, both run reliably for years, both deliver close to gigabit at distances under 30 metres.
Where it works: any line-of-sight install. Both ends need to "see" each other — usually mounted on opposite walls under eaves. Garden trees in the way are a problem; mature trees move and absorb signal. Distance up to about 100m is fine in principle, but in a London back garden you'll be well under 30m.
Where it fails: if you can't get a clear line of sight (e.g. extension built between house and office, mature tree, shed in the way), bridge will be intermittent or won't work at all.
Verdict: Good middle ground if a buried cable is impractical (e.g. concrete patio with no easy route). Reliable, fast, and unaffected by weather once installed properly. The bridge equipment is the one bit of WiFi kit I've never seen fail in years of use.
Method 3: Buried Cat6 in conduit (best, once-and-done)
The proper solution, and the one I recommend in most London gardens. Dig a shallow trench from the house to the garden office, lay armoured plastic conduit at depth, pull a Cat6 cable through it, terminate both ends to wall plates, install a small WiFi access point inside the office on the wired connection.
That access point now broadcasts WiFi inside the office, but the connection back to the house is over copper, not radio. Gigabit speed, no interference, no weather problems, no degradation over time. You can also plug a desktop computer or printer directly into the wall plate if you want a wired connection in the office.
Where it works: almost anywhere. London gardens are usually short enough that a single Cat6 run handles it comfortably (the spec is 100m max). Going through a brick wall or two is fine.
What's involved: the cable has to be UV-resistant outdoor-rated Cat6. The conduit is 25mm flexible armoured ducting, buried 300–450mm down. We usually run the conduit alongside the SWA (Steel Wire Armoured) cable that's already supplying mains power to the office — the trench is already there. If you're building the office from scratch, get the conduit laid as part of the groundwork — it's much simpler at that stage.
Naomi in Chiswick called me last spring. She'd built a garden studio at the back of a 25-metre garden — her main work as an illustrator was now done out there. The previous owner had run a mesh node out to the studio, but it was barely working since spring growth came in on the apple tree halfway down the garden.
The studio already had power from the house via SWA cable in a trench. The trench was at the right side of the garden, running under a stone path. I worked with her gardener to lift three slabs over a Saturday morning, ran 25mm conduit alongside the existing SWA, pulled outdoor-grade Cat6 through it, terminated to wall plates at both ends. Fitted a Ubiquiti UniFi Lite access point inside the studio on the wired connection.
Her speed inside the studio is now 410Mbps wired, 350Mbps WiFi. Before, mesh gave her 18Mbps at best, often nothing. The whole job took just over six hours including the slab work. She hasn't thought about it since.
How the three methods compare
| Method | Reliability | Speed | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mesh / extender | Variable | 50–200 Mbps if it works | 3–5 yrs |
| P2P wireless bridge | Excellent | 500–900 Mbps | 7+ yrs |
| Buried Cat6 + AP | Excellent | 900+ Mbps wired, 350+ WiFi | 15+ yrs |
When each method makes sense
Mesh: The office is right next to the house, under 8 metres, and you don't depend on it for high-priority work. Or you want to try the simplest thing first before committing to a proper install.
P2P wireless bridge: The garden has features that make trenching impossible — concrete patios you can't lift, mature trees the roots of which you can't disturb, listed-building constraints on the house wall. Or you've already got the trench in but want to avoid digging.
Buried Cat6: Almost every other situation. The mains supply to the office was almost certainly buried in conduit when the office was built — we can usually piggyback off that trench. Once it's in, you stop thinking about it. Future-proofs you for any upgrade (10GbE one day, PoE security cameras, anything).
A few things I always do on a garden-office install
- Pull two cables, not one. When we're already pulling Cat6 through conduit, pulling a second one alongside is virtually no extra labour. You've now got a spare for the day the first one gets damaged or you want a separate connection for a PoE camera.
- Use outdoor-rated cable end-to-end. Even the bit that's inside the conduit. Don't join indoor cable to outdoor cable at the wall to save a metre — joints in cable are the biggest source of intermittent faults years later.
- Earth the shielding properly at the house end. Outdoor cable runs collect static during thunderstorms. The shield needs to go to your domestic earth at one end (the house, not the office) to dissipate harmlessly. This is easy to do at install and impossible to retrofit cleanly.
- Test everything with a Fluke before leaving. Length, wiremap, signal-to-noise. The cable is buried now — if it fails the day after install, we're digging again. Test on the day, get the test certificate, get it right first time.
Common questions
Can I just use a mesh node?
Sometimes — if the office is close to the house (under 8m) and the route between is open. Beyond that, mesh struggles with brick walls, double glazing and seasonal foliage. Try it first if you've got the kit; if it's not reliable, upgrade.
Do I need planning permission for a buried cable?
Not for Cat6 in conduit under your own garden. It's permitted. Don't cross boundaries into neighbours or shared driveways without permission, but in your own land you're fine.
What about powerline adapters to the office?
Won't work. The garden office runs from its own consumer unit fed by a separate cable from the house — powerline can't bridge the gap between two distinct electrical circuits. Don't bother.
How long does a Cat6 install take?
Half a day to a full day. Most London gardens are under 20 metres and that fits inside a half-day install if there's no slab-lifting. If we're trenching from scratch, it's a full day.
Garden office with rubbish WiFi?
Tell me roughly how far from the house, what's between the two, and whether the office has mains supply already. I can usually work out the right method on the phone and book it in for the same week.