Britain’s Most Spectacular Backyard Builds
BBC2 contacted us via our website to enquire whether we would like Chitty to be included in a pilot series to be called Britain’s Most Spectacular Backyard builds. We enthusiastically said yes, so a TV crew travelled to the Isle of Wight for a preview. We were very pleased and flattered to have Chitty on film however the crew went on to explain there was more to the show and were looking for inventors! to take part in new challenged. They suggested to us we should apply. So we did. We had 10 weeks and a budget of £2,500 to build an invention with purpose. My wife and I had already discussed building a band stand with a bar inside, and maybe to add a few horse designs for decoration. This soon developed into a fully working mechanical sweet dispensing Carousel.
Between January and March 2016 we filmed on our days off from work and did the majority of the build during the evenings. Seven nights a week until midnight was a real challenge and at time we really thought we had bittern off more than we could chew! The weather was awful and constantly rained meaning we just couldn’t get out into the garden. We had to design and build it as big as we could which would fit in the garage, oh and kitchen! then hopefully on the last day it would all fit together outside. Fortunately it did and we took part in the grand reveal. The show was live on BBC2 on Tuesday 21st June 2016 and amazingly we won! Winning the Golden Hammer.
