HOTEL owner Steve Cuddy has built a canal with locks in its garden — to float a barge he’s turned into a swimming pool.
Steve, 59, spent £55,000 on the “world’s shortest” waterway with working pumping system, decorative tunnel alcove and red-brick lock keeper’s cottage.
He had earlier bought a 35ft vintage narrowboat for £5,000 into which he fitted a 29ft swimming pool.
Self-taught architect Steve, who runs Grimscote Manor Hotel in Coleshill, Warks, said: “The idea was to use the barge as an escape pod for myself but I also wanted it as a pool that everyone can use.
“The lock works and mechanically lifts the boat but I can only travel 24 inches a time.
“It’s a ridiculous project but I did all the work and I’m very proud.
“I’m going for the worlds shortest lock. I think it must qualify. I can’t see why it wouldn’t.
“I did a lot of research and put a lot of thought into it. It’s all self-taught, I didn’t really have an education. I taught myself to read and write.
“I was born in Small Heath, in Birmingham, so obviously renowned for lots of canals. I spent a lot of times walking up canals and quite a few times falling in.
“So I’ve essentially built a therapy room to get over my phobia of canals.”
