Most people will leave their shed to become overrun by old bits and bobs. Not Simon Cork, he wanted to make his into somewhere he could go on a night out with friends.
So, despite having no experience in building anything, he transformed his humble garden shed into The Popped Cork. Now he's entered his 'little fun' into the 'Shed of the Year' competition.
Simon, along with wife Debby, started the project after finding themselves with a fair amount of time on their hands during the coronavirus pandemic. What they created in three months left everyone 'gobsmacked', reports CheshireLive.
"It’s a kind of manifestation really," explained Simon. "It started off during Covid. We thought we've got an area at the back of the garden we want to do something with.
"It used to be the kids play area. It started off with the deck and one thing led to another. We put the shed onto the decking and that turned into a bar.
"We thought we want to make this an all-year round kind of thing. It completely manifested from there. It turned into our little haven of fun should we say, for friends and family.
"We're really pleased with how it's turned out but we've done it all ourselves." Simon never really set out any exact plans, the project just kept growing as he had new ideas.
"We already had that sort of an imagination in our head anyway," he explained. "We just never thought it would turn out how it has. It’s mainly family and friends who come around for drinks and a meal and they’re all gobsmacked as to what we’ve done.
"We’ve got the TV for the sport and we've got the darts in. We converted a whiskey barrel chopped in half into a dartboard. And then the bottom half underneath is a wine filler. We just got handy with wood!"
CheshireLive asked Simon if he’d ever thought of setting up business following the success of his project. He said: "We started doing things out of whiskey barrels - like clocks and coat hangers - so it has kind of manifested into the crafty business. But it's not a full on business yet, more of a hobby."
