A man dug a canal in his garden to accommodate a 10-meter barge (5 photos + 1 video)

The inventor built a red brick caretaker's house and an outdoor courtyard with a swimming pool.





59-year-old self-taught architect Stephen Cuddy bought a vintage 10-metre barge for $6.5 thousand and built an exact replica of a Victorian canal for it.

Stephen began by digging 30-40 tons of soil on a small plot of land at his Grimscote Manor Hotel in Coalhill (Warwickshire, UK). Over the next six months, he spent another $32,500 to dig a fully functional lock with a special water pumping system.



The inventor also built a red brick caretaker's lodge, an outdoor courtyard in a decorative niche, and an eight-metre-long swimming pool inside the barge.

Cuddy believes that the canal he dug is the shortest in the world, as his vessel can only travel 24 inches. The stunning creation was recently featured on Channel 4's George Clarke's Amazing Expanse, with the show's host calling the boat "amazing and incredibly brilliant."





"The idea was to use it as a kind of refuge for myself, but absolutely everyone can use it - from the hotel staff to my friends," the Briton says.



He receives numerous compliments from guests.



"My goal is to make the barge beautiful. All doubts and worries have left me. I am very proud of it," added the self-taught architect.