A BIT of gentle persuasion from his daughter has led a Chiddingfold dad to be in the running for a major prize in a national Shed of the Year competition.

Garden designer Ben Swanborough, 46, was finally persuaded to build a tree house for his daughter Elsie,13, when she gave him £500 she had saved from her own money towards it.

Ben entered his mushroom design in the Cabin and Summerhouse Shed category of Channel 4’s Amazing Space Shed of the Year 2017 and was thrilled when it won the category. It will now go head-to-head with the seven other category winners in the competition to be crowned Cuprinol Shed of the Year 2017.

The overall winner to be announced in the last episode will receive £1,000, a wooden plaque, £100 worth of Cuprinol and and a giant crown for his or her shed.

The winning design will be decided by a panel of shed experts including the founder of the competition Uncle Wilco – Andrew Wilcox – last year’s winner Walter Micklethwait, presenter George Clarke and the expert team of fellow architect Laura Clark, craftsman William Hardie and industrial designer Max McMurdo.

Ben who lives in Petworth Road, said: “It’s been such an amazing experience being part of Shed of the Year 2017 and I’ve met so many great people.

“This year was so competitive I never thought we’d win, but my daughter and I are so delighted. We’re looking forward to spending time in our wonderful creation knowing that the judges loved our shed as much as we did. I kept thinking Elsie would forget about it after asking me for two to three years to build her a home the same as a mushroom.

“I finished it at the beginning of the summer, I started with a few bits of oak and it grew from there. If we don’t include labour it cost around £5,000. It was quite a complicated build. I also built her a little kitchen area, and a glass floor looks down to the river below.

The labour of love took a year to build during weekends and evenings and has some remarkable features. Downstairs it is designed like a stalk with storage and a fold-down desk, some steps and a climbing wall up to the top area through a trap door.

Ben revealed Elsie and her 16-year old brother Sebastian love it so much, they even hold sleep overs in it.