A devoted husband dedicated two years and $44,000 to transform his garden into a tropical paradise for his wife as he was unable to take her on holiday.

Construction worker Chris Lodge, 44, and business owner Sharon Lodge, 45, are so busy with work and caring for their disabled dog Dice that they haven’t gone on holiday for six years.

Knowing how much they’d loved holidaying together, Chris decided in June 2017 to bring that holiday feeling to them by turning their back garden into a tropical tiki wonderland.

Despite having no experience of gardening whatsoever, Chris threw every free evening and weekend he had over 24 months into the mammoth project — and the results are stunning.

After digging out the lawn, Chris built a beautiful timber, driftwood and rope bridge across the garden which is surrounded by luscious green palm trees and succulents.

The bridge leads to a tiki hut, which Chris and Sharon call their “Freaky Tiki”, filled with a timber bar built by Chris, tropical trinkets and gorgeous timber engraved bar stools.

While it has been no small undertaking, Chris says every penny and hour of hard work has been worth it.

And it’s even ignited a passion for gardening in him.

Holiday feeling

“We used to love our holidays but we have a big business and I work a lot. The business suddenly took off and went a bit crazy and we’ve really been pushing it so we struggle to find the time now,” said Chris, of Wollaston, Northamptonshire, England.

“We haven’t been able to go on holiday for about six years. Our dog also suffers from little seizures now and then so we don’t like to leave him.

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“We’re both housebound and office-bound. So I decided I would bring the holiday to us so we can enjoy. Now we can go to the bottom of the garden and escape in a tropical paradise.

“We can come down here to our tiki hut and grab a cocktail or a latte and relax. You feel like you’re on the other side of the world. You’d never guess you’re at the bottom of a garden in the UK. I want it to be a place where all our friends can come too if they’re having a bad day or feeling down. I want it to be a place where people can just get away. I just love to do things that make people happy and put a smile on their faces.”

Tropical inspiration

After living in their home for 15 years, Chris finally found the time to build an extension two years ago and decided to tackle the garden at the same time.

A willow tree and the bottom of their lawn reminded Chris of a jungle-themed fairground ride he used to go on as a child — which set off his inspiration for his exotic renovations.

Chris poured hours into researching which tropical plants could best withstand British weather and used online tutorial videos to learn all the tricks of the gardening trade.

With an eye for detail, years of construction and a helping hand from his mate Rob, Chris has really put his own “funky and different” stamp on his garden.

As well as planting every plant and laying the grass, Chris built the bridge, put down the decking, built his tiki bar and crafted a gorgeous bench out of timber.

His “Freaky Tiki” hut was a wooden shed purchased for $5,700 which Chris then transformed with dried grass roofing, an optical illusion tropical window and exotic decorations.

No expense has been spared with some plants costing $381 each and tiki mugs that adorn the barn specially imported from America.