Man Spends Decade Making His Bush Less Boring
(Photo: Damien McFadden)
Some people have signs in their yard that say “Beware of Dog,” but this English senior citizen could have a sign that reads: “Here be dragons.”
In one of our favorite DIY yard projects, septuagenarian John Brooker spent more than a decade turning a normal, everyday hedge near his rented farm cottage in Norfolk into a gigantic, 150-foot long and 10-foot high dragon that would make the “Game of Thrones” gang take a second look.
So what was it about the hedge that made Brooker imagine dragons? “I was standing at my kitchen sink one day and thought the hedge was boring, so decided to do something with it,” he told the BBC. "I think the dragon came from my days in the Army. I did two tours in Malaysia so the dragon must have been in my subconscious.”
Over the next 10-plus years, Brooker created his beast, spending three days every 2-3 weeks trimming and shaping, going through four electric hedge trimmers in the process. His wife helped with the design, but Brooker says he did all the manual work himself.
(Photo: Damien McFadden)
“I was always told by my maths teacher that I had a good eye for drawing a curve,” he told the BBC. “There is a sense of what is right when your hand moves. Very rarely have I cut out something I wanted to keep.”
The result is a pretty realistic looking dragon with a big, monster-like snoot, a pointed back and even wings. All that’s missing is fire flaring from the nostrils, but you probably don’t want to stand too close to it — just in case.
Even Brooker is impressed. In this YouTube interview, he says, “It’s about the biggest thing I ever built… made, shall we say.”
WATCH: John Brooker talks about his dragon
Brooker’s dragon is clearly visible from a public walkway. With this fierce-looking creature guarding his house, he’s one old guy who doesn’t have to tell anyone to, “Get off my lawn!”
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