Ship-shape shed set for super award (From Daily Echo)

Ship-shape shed from Southampton set for super award in Shed of the Year competition

5:29pm Monday 25th February 2013 in News By Rebecca Pearson, Reporter

A HAMPSHIRE shed that was rescued from a derelict pub is in line to win a national competition.

Owner Clare Kapma, 44, bought it for £100 for extra storage space and a play house for her nine-year-old daughter after the family moved from Sholing in Southampton to Bursledon.

It used to grace the children's play area at the Crow's Nest pub, Oak Hill, Bursledon, which closed down two years ago.

Over the course of a year it has been rebuilt, painted and decorated with the help of friends and family.

Now Clare's shed is up against more than 2,000 others from across the country, ranging to be named Cuprinol Shed of the Year.

She will find out if she has won the £1,000 bounty July 3, during National Shed Week.

Named Queen Emma after her daughter, the shed was inspired by Bursledon's ship building history and modelled on Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory.

It is complete with a top deck, rigging, hammocks, captain's quarters, a union flag and a pirate flag.

Clare, of Long Lane, Bursledon, said: “My husband thought I was completely mad when I said I'd paid £100 for a boat.

“A lot of people thought I was mad until they saw it.

“I grew up in Bursledon and used to play on it when it was at the Crow's Nest, but it was a bit of a wreck when we moved it.

“It was a project. We put it up last year but we had to paint it and decorate it with the help of family and friends.

“We modelled it on the Victory because it's built like an old galleon.”

•  People can enter their sheds up until May 3, after which voting will open. For more information, or to enter, log on to readershed.co.uk.