By Elspeth Morrow, Lifestyle Correspondent
MOSSWELL — From the outside, it looks like nothing more than a weathered wooden shed. Its roof sags slightly, ivy creeps along its planks, and a rusty spade leans against the door. Neighbors walk past without a second glance.
But step inside, and the world changes.
Here in the back garden of Rupert Kettleby, a retired postman with a fondness for begonias, stands perhaps the most extraordinary shed in the Kingdom. The moment the door swings open, one is met with a dazzling sight: polished wood floors, silk draperies, and no fewer than two crystal chandeliers hanging from the rafters.
And in the center, as if awaiting an audience, rests a miniature throne chair upholstered in red velvet and trimmed with gilt. “I call it my little palace,” Rupert said shyly, rubbing his hands against his overalls. “Some folks collect stamps. I collected style.”
The shed began as a joke. Years ago, after watching a neighbor boast about his new conservatory, Rupert muttered that he’d turn his own tool shed into a rival hall. Piece by piece, he did just that. The wheelbarrow was replaced by a chaise longue, the seed boxes by gilded frames, and the dangling light bulb by chandeliers he found at a market stall.
“Sometimes I just sit here with a cup of tea and feel like a king,” Rupert admitted. “My house may have leaky pipes, but in here, the world makes sense.”
The irony is not lost on his wife, Marjorie, who complains that guests ask to see the shed more than the sitting room. “The shed is fine,” she said. “But it doesn’t cook supper or pay the bills.”
At this year’s Mosswell Garden Show, Rupert was invited not for his prize-winning dahlias but to give tours of the shed. Hundreds lined up, whispering in awe at the velvet throne and chandeliers. “It just goes to show,” he said with a grin, “even the humblest place can outshine a palace — if you let it.”