People called him crazy, but Andy Corrie wouldn’t stop following his dreams. And now, after forking out over £80,000, he has a tropical paradise in his back garden that provides the ultimate chill spot.
The 41-year-old dad spent a small fortune transforming the back garden of his home in Milton Keynes, Bucks into his perfect ‘man cave.’
For Andy, that looks like an 80-square metre tropical hideout with an 8,000-litre fish tank filled with 14 Koi fish, 15 Madagascan day geckos, palm trees, a sound system and – to top it all off – his own beer tap.
His neighbours and wife weren’t so keen when they first heard about the project.
Andy said: ‘My wife, Sarah thought I was absolutely crazy at first, but now it’s built she understands where I was coming from when I was trying to explain the plan.’
This was a huge undertaking for one person but something that was ultimately achievable for Andy: as a construction worker, he deals with building plans each day.
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Now, he uses the space to chill out after a hard day’s graft and on weekends.
He said: ‘It’s nice to just get away once in a while and I don’t even have to go far to do that now.
‘I started working on the plans about three years ago and I’m still adding to it – any new idea I have, I just throw it in.’
He has to keep the tank at a constant temperature of 24 degrees for the koi fish, which he bought from dealerships all over the UK – some for a whopping £10,000.
Once the fish tank was up and running, someone suggested that Andy get some lizards in the space, as they like the warm climate.
He took them up on the idea, and now has 15 Madagascan day geckos roaming around the place.
The £80,000 price tag also paid for the tropical greenery.
Andy said: ‘I have palm trees that appear to be growing out the ground in these huge under ground planters – it’s such a mad place.’
While he built it for himself, his family enjoy escaping to the tropical paradise too.
‘I got a little boy, Archie, one, is a bit of a menace who loves to come in here and attack the plants,’ Andy said.
He continued: ‘My little girl Evie, four, loves it in here too – she helps me feed the koi fish food every day.’
Many people can only dream of having a back garden like this, but Andy isn’t done yet.
He wants to extend it more to fit a pool table in, and has grand ideas for his urban jungle: ‘I would love to add more tropical animals like tree frogs and maybe even even monkeys so it becomes a bit more of a jungle.’
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