A father-of-two has stunned his friends and neighbours by turning his ‘scrub land’ garden into a replica of the Love Island villa in lockdown.
Derry Green, 37, from Rainford, Merseyside, has spent up to 12 hours a day and over £6,500 transforming the overgrown land into a beautiful decking area complete with a hot tub, hanging chair, log cabin and a fire pit – much like the one at Casa Amor.
The dad said he decided to start doing something with the garden to make use of his time in lockdown in April.
He initially took inspiration from the infamous villa when he decided to incorporate the same fairy lights.
Derry Green, 37, from Rainford, Merseyside, pictured with his children Sophia, eight, and Noah, five, stunned his friends and neighbours by turning his ‘scrub land’ garden into a replica of the Love Island villa in lockdown
Handyman Derry transformed the overgrown land into a beautiful decking area to resemble the Love Island villa
But Derry, who roped in kids, Sophia, eight, and Noah, five, to help him along the way, has been inundated with comments and requests to come enjoy the sunshine in his replica of the set – with friends and neighbours stunned by the uncanny resemblance.
He explained: ‘It wasn’t supposed to be as big as this, it just ended up that way because I’ve had time on my hands as the weeks turn into months.
‘It all started around this fire pit in the middle which we already had and it just expanded from there.
‘It wasn’t my original idea to turn it into the Love Island villa, but I did steal the idea for the lights from the show because my missus watches it and I’ve seen them on the television and I thought they looked really nice.
Derry has been inundated with comments and requests to come enjoy the sunshine in his replica of the set – with friends and neighbours stunned by the uncanny resemblance
The actual Love Island villa in Majorca. Derry said he didn’t intend to build a replica but did nick the idea for the festoon lighting
‘Now everyone tells me it looks just like the Love Island villa. There’s people that I haven’t spoken to for 20 years from school but have been messaging me about it.
‘I never expected it to blow up like this, it’s been crazy.’
Handyman Derry has done all the manual labour himself, ordering the equipment and furniture he needed online, and taking inspiration from sites like Pinterest to transform his backyard into a Mediterranean-inspired retreat.
Accepting that foreign holidays may well be off the cards for Brits completely this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Derry also wanted to create a holiday-at-home space for his two children, who love camping.
Handyman Derry has done all the manual labour himself, ordering the equipment and furniture he needed online, and taking inspiration from sites like Pinterest to transform his backyard into a Mediterranean-inspired retreat
Accepting that foreign holidays may well be off the cards for Brits completely this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Derry also wanted to create a holiday-at-home space for his two children, who love camping. Pictured: the glamping cabin during construction
Derry built the stunning garden around an original fire pit, which was already in place when he started
The newly built decked garden features a hanging chair, a large barbecue and a hot tub, adorned with tropical plants
There’s even a sauna room beside the hot tub, which is likely to prove popular with his friends and neighbours
After sharing pictures of the project on his personal Facebook, Derry anticipates that the list of people wanting to visit his version of the Love Island villa may be a bit longer than just his kids and partner.
He said: ‘When I started all this it was just a piece of scrub land. It was just all overgrown and I had nothing to do, so I thought I’d just sort some of the stuff out in the garden, assuming that lockdown and everything would be over and done with within a few weeks.
‘I started building a decking adding a few bits here and there, but as the lockdown went on and on it just sort of grew into this massive project.
After sharing pictures of the project on his personal Facebook, Derry anticipates that the list of people wanting to visit his version of the Love Island villa may be a bit longer than just his kids and partner
The father-of-two admitted he started building decking ‘adding a few bits here and there’, but as the lockdown went on and on it grew into a massive project
The cosy cabin at the end of the garden is perfect for ‘glamping’ – boasting a small double bed and a kitchen area
Derry said it will be nice to have an outdoor area they can use given they can’t go on holiday abroad this year
‘We know that we are not going to be able to go on holiday this year and the kids always want to go camping or do something.
‘So I thought it would be nice for them to have a space to be able to do that.
‘It will be nice to be able to use it properly when the lockdown is over – I’m sure I’ll have plenty of people who want to come and make use of it!’