‘I spent £30,000 building a canal in my back garden in the West Midlands - it’s got a lock and narrowboat’

Stephen Cuddy, 59, purchased a 35ft (10m) long vintage barge off eBay for £5,000 and constructed an accurate reproduction of a Victorian canal lock to house it.

The self-taught architect started by digging out 30-40 tonnes of soil on a small plot of land in the grounds of a hotel he owns in Coleshill, Warkwickshire.

Over the next six months he spent another £25,000 constructing a full-functioning canal lock complete with lock gate and water pumping system to fill and empty it.

He also built a redbrick lockkeeper's cottage, an outdoor patio within a decorative tunnel alcove and installed a 29ft (8m) long swimming pool inside the barge.

The eccentric hotel owner now reckons he has the world's shortest canal - with his boat able to travel a mere 24 inches.

His stunning creation recently featured on Channel 4's 'George Clarke's Amazing Spaces' with the host describing it as "awe-inspiring" and "off the scale brilliant."

George added: "Stephen has delivered one of the most unbelievable Amazing Spaces builds ever."

Stephen, of Coleshill, said: "It started when I told my ex-partner, who I am also in business with, I'm thinking of buying a narrowboat.

"She said that would never happen so I got one.

"But then I needed somewhere to put it as I knew she wouldn't be too happy when it turned up.

"The idea was to have it as a bit of an escape pod for myself but I wanted to do it up so everyone could use it - from hotel staff to my friends.

"I had to sort of hide it away from guests and I then I thought why not build a whole canal lock to disguise it.

"I thought it could actually work. I asked my friends if they agreed and they just said ‘you’re weird anyway’.

"Even George Clarke had that look on his face that he didn't think was possible and I just thought I'm going to do this anyway and prove people wrong."

Stephen admitted he had committed to a 'ridiculous project' but set to work building the incredible canal lock system out of 7,500 bricks and railway sleepers.

And the irony of filling a five tonne boat entirely with water isn't lost on the wacky entrepreneur who runs Grimscote Manor Hotel.

Stephen added: "The thinking was also that I didn't want people turning up at the hotel to find a canal stuck in the garden.

"I thought I needed a way to make it look more presentable.

“The boat cost me £5,000, it was an empty shell. I wanted to put the swimming pool in it.

“When you buy a boat, you think to yourself, what’s the last thing you need in a boat. The last thing you need is water.

"I thought if I fill a boat with water, it’s effectively sinking constantly, I needed something with a bit of a twist to it.

"I wanted something different, and it looks really good.

“It works really well as a pool and it wasn’t that expensive. The lining cost £1,000 and some other bits, it was probably about £1,500 all in.

“It’s 4ft deep and 6ft wide and 29ft long. It’s a good size, I've swam in it and it’s beautiful. People expect it to be dodgy but it’s really good.

“With the project itself, my objective was to make it beautiful. Canal’s are quite intimidating places, they were built for a purpose.

"They’re quite ugly at times, but what I've built is quite beautiful. And it was all done using quite primitive methods. Very much like an Egyptian would have built it.

“The compliments from guests and people have been nonstop. All that doubt and worry has lifted off me. I’m very proud.

“I did all the work myself, the lock works and mechanically lifts the boat. I only travel 24 inches.

"I can live on a canal boat on my own land and have it as a little holiday while travelling 24 inches every day.

"I’m going for the worlds shortest lock. I think it must qualify. I can't see why it wouldn't.

"I did a lot of research and put a lot of thought into it. It’s all self-taught, I didn't really have an education. I taught myself to read and write.

"I was born in Small Heath, in Birmingham, so obviously renowned for lots of canals. I spent a lot of times walking up canals and quite a few times falling in.

“So I’ve essentially built a therapy room to get over my phobia of canals."