Cowboy-obsessed grandad creates Wild West town in his Kent back garden

• ITV News Meridian's Abigail Bracken took a look around the 'Dude Ranch'.

A grandad with a “fascination” for all things cowboy has dedicated 25 years to building a life-sized Wild West town in his back garden.

Stephen Smart says his love for country music, Clint Eastwood, and John Wayne inspired him to construct his 19th-century-style frontier town at his semi-detached home on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.

The entrance to the 'Dude Ranch' can be seen outside his front door, and through the garden, the town has everything, including a saloon bar, barbers, jailhouse, bank, haberdashery, and undertakers.

Stephen said: "People knock on the door and they say, 'Can I take some photos of your front garden?"

"I say 'Yeah, and if you like, you come down the garden'. Then they come down and they're here for about an hour."

Visitors have been fascinated to see the garden-turned-frontier-town - complete with a livery, marshall's office and the saloon bar which even has a wall dedicated to Western stars.

The trading post has been set up with a mannequin as the shopkeeper selling foods from the frontier.

• Stephen told ITV News Meridian where the idea came from

Stephen said: "I was into country music and my friends used to come around, then some of the clubs would shut and we wanted somewhere to go.

"So somebody suggested that I could build a saloon in the garden - that's what I did."

He has become so well known for his cowboy-themed garden, that most people now call him 'The Dude'.

It has grown so much that he is now working out there full time and says it will keep on expanding.

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