Shed of the year

A man has transformed his garden shed into a glorious Roman temple.

For years, Tony Rogers had dreamed of turning the wooden outhouse into something a little more grand. But the electronics engineer was denied by a higher authority - his wife, Lynne.

Now his ambition has been rewarded. Mr Rogers has just beaten 700 competitors to win the title of Shed of the Year. The 61-year-old, who even created a computer simulation of what the temple would look like, beat a multitude of designs, including a Tardis, to win the prize.

Sarah Beeny, the presenter of Channel 4's Property Ladder, handed him the award.

Mr Rogers, a Telegraph reader from Reading, said: "Lynne and I had been to the Chelsea Flower Show and seen a Roman temple design that caught my eye. Then one evening I was standing at the kitchen window, and I said: 'The shed's got a pointed roof. It would look great as a Roman folly.'

"Lynne just said: 'I do not want a Roman temple in the garden.'" However, two or three years later his patience paid off. He said: "It was coming up to Christmas Eve and this parcel lorry arrived with four glass fibre columns. I realised that my wife and two sons had changed their minds."

Mr Rogers lost no time turning his retreat into a grand temple, modelled on the Pantheon in Rome. After assembling the eight-foot columns and erecting a whitewashed triangular pediment, he added a few finishing touches, including a mosaic table and embroidered cushions.

Mr Rogers was thrilled when his creation was named shed of the year, the climax of the country's first National Shed Week.

Andrew Wilcox, the organiser, who runs the website readersheds.co.uk, said: "I wrote a petition to 10 Downing Street saying the public should appreciate sheds more, that having a national week would be a start."

All he received was a reply saying his petition was classed as "intended to be humorous, or has no point about government policy". He said: "Of course the week was meant to be humorous, but it is celebrating an important part of British culture."