SOME people have gnomes, others might have ornamental fish ponds and a few lay claim to fairies, but Brian Ferris has a cathedral in his back garden.

A replica, granted, but a cathedral all the same and one he designed himself.

A feat made all the more remarkable by the fact his vision is not 100 per cent.

Brian’s now 79, but as a teenager, he attended what was then Worcester College for the Blind in Whittington Road because he was short-sighted.

Completely undeterred – as he points out, he’s never known life any other way – he enjoyed a successful career as a building surveyor, producing complicated technical drawings, and loves making models.

In fact I bet a lot of children wish they had a grandfather like Brian Ferris. Because he builds them dolls’ houses and forts and other things for playtime.

He lives in Bath Road, Worcester, where the cathedral, which is made from cast concrete, stands on a slab in Brian’s terraced rear garden looking across Diglis to the Malvern Hills.

It took the best part of 40 years to complete, weighs nearly half a tonne and began life when he lived at Harrow in London.

When the model moved with Brian to Worcester in 1988, it needed a crane to lift it off the lorry and into place.

The structure is based around 600 cast concrete blocks with a copper and teak roof and includes cloisters and a chapter house.

“It is my own design,” he explained, “but there are elements of Worcester Cathedral in it.” As a garden ornament, it beats a bird bath into a cocked hat any day.

But step inside his home and there is the latest of a long line of dolls’ houses and forts he has made for the younger members of the family.

“The first fort I made was for my son more than 40 years ago,”

said Brian, “Then I made them for my grandsons and there are three of those.I waited a long time for a granddaughter to come along.”

The current dolls’ house is his fourth and has been made in his basement workshop from plywood using his own design for a London Victorian villa.

Plastic from a compact disc holder has been used for the windows, the roof tiles have been made from cornflake packets and when completed, the interior will feature fireplaces, doors, a kitchen and a detailed staircase.

“The only thing I’m not making is furniture,” he added. “That’s too fiddly for me.”

Dolls’ houses are normally made to one-twelfth scale (an inch to a foot) but because of the grand size of the original building, this has been built to one-sixteenth scale.

Even so it’s a fair chunk of replica, being nearly 40 inches long and two feet high and deep.

Doors on the back and side allow access to the interior, so you can see just how detailed the work is. So far construction has taken about 21 months with only the kitchen range to be fitted.

House design is one of Brian’s fortes and he has a collection of more than 15,000 slides of buildings taken by himself all over the UK. He even lectures on architecture for the University of the Third Age.

The only thing this house lacks so far is a name. Being as Brian made it for a young lady called Scarlet, why not Miss Scarlet’s House?

That would be the one in Bath Road, Worcester, and not the one of the vamp in the board game Cluedo