War style bunker built in garden is aiming for success in competition
An inventor who has prepared for an apocalypse by building a Second World War-themed bunker in his garden is in the running for a competition.
Colin Furze has turned his back on using his shed to store a lawnmower or bags of compost and instead built the bunker under his garden shed. The prolific experimenter is one of 32 people in the running for the Cuprinol Shed of the Year 2017 title.
He was paid initially by Sky TV to create the 24 foot by 18 foot shelter.
It is entered by climbing through a trap door inside a seemingly normal garden shed before descending about 10 feet down a steel ladder. A narrow tunnel leads from the ladder into the main room of the shelter.
The roof of the bunker is located one metre below the floor of the shed in Stamford.
Colin built it to highlight Sky’s You, Me and the Apocalypse show.
He said: “Sky contacted me. They wanted me to make a bunker to promote their show and they paid for it.
“I wanted to do this for a long time. It took about two months to create.
“Originally I was going to board it out but I decided to leave it as metal panelling.
“I decided that I quite liked the metal and I did not want to change it.
“I wanted it to look like a shelter that would be used after an apocalypse.
“People are surprised at how big it is when they see it.”
Sky TV took a 360 degree video of the bunker once it was complete to show online.
Colin was helped in his scheme by friends Rick Simpson and Tom Lamb who helped to move the soil and erect the shelter.
The madcap inventor said: “I am pleased with the final look and I wouldn’t change anything in it.
“I don’t think it would be any good if it was any bigger or any smaller.
“I enjoy using it and I can watch the F1 down here if it’s on really early in the morning to avoid disturbing others.
“A local band also practises down here as they can’t be heard above ground when the hatch is shut.”
The bunker holds some of the other items that former plumber Colin, 37, has created like a bed that tips up on to its end to drop the sleeper out of it.
There is even a sink but it has not been plumbed in.
It is so big that there is a three seater sofa, a large screen television and a set of drums in the structure.
He initially entered the Cuprinol competition in 2016 to take on entrants from across the country.
His entry did not progress last year and he was automatically entered into this year’s without knowing it.
He said: “It was a bit of a surprise to find out that I was entered again this year.
“If I win I will get a wooden plaque with the Cuprinol logo on it.”
This is just one of the projects that Colin has embarked on over the years.
He has also built a swing that carried the rider through 360 degrees and a motorbike which could fire flames 30 feet.
He also created a huge At-At, from the Star Wars movie, The Empire Strkes Back, which was big enough for people to sit inside and use as a play area.
Another of his schemes was a homemade hover bike and he has also made a set of retractable claws like those used by Hugh Jackman’s character Wolverine in the X-Men films.
He fitted a tuk tuk with a motorbike engine to boost its top speed to mark the release of the computer game Far Cry 4.
The upgraded tuk tuk was also fitted with flame throwers and fake machine guns.
So popular is Colin that he has attracted more than 300,000 fans on Facebook and his YouTube videos featuring his projects have a cult following too.
Colin has written a book, entitled This Book Is Not Safe, which features some of his scheme and also projects for youngsters to have a go at. It is to be released in book shops in September.
The inventor has several other projects in the pipeline which he hopes to make a reality over the next few months.
The shortlist for the Cuprinol competition has been drawn up from a record 2,963 entries.
Among the other sheds in the running for the Cuprinol title is oine decked out as an Boeing airliner flight simulator and another like a 1940’s police station.
The sheds will go head to head on Channel 4’s Amazing Spaces Shed of the Year show later this year.
At the end of the show the winning shed will be revealed.
To vote for Colin’s shed visit www.readersheds.co.uk with voting ending at midday on Friday, June 2.
