By Megan Carr
Meet the grandad who has spent 25 years transforming his back garden into a – Wild West ‘town’.
Stephen Smart’s Dude Ranch includes a saloon, jailhouse, bank, haberdashery and even an undertakers at the rear of his semi-detached home in Sheppey, Kent.
The 65-year-old has long been fascinated with the films starring the likes of Clint Eastwood and John Wayne, which inspired him to construct his very own old-style town.
But, despite his Wild West obsession, he’s never actually been to America.
Mr Smart – who’s also known simply as ‘Dude’ – began modelling his property, which now resembles a Hollywood film set, on the American frontier period around 25 years ago.
A retired lorry driver, he said: “I just had a fascination for the Wild West.
“It started with country music, then looking up the time period and then I started going to a few themed parties.
“I wanted somewhere to go basically, so I built the town. It’s not a normal garden.
“It started with little buildings and then the saloon and then it just took off from there.”
Despite claiming he’s no carpenter, dad-of-four Mr Smart has handcrafted all the convincing Wild West buildings in his garden.
The front of his home is similarly decked out with a graveyard, old wagon wheels, swinging saloon doors and a sign welcoming visitors to the Dude Ranch more suited to 19th-century Kansas than 21st-century Kent.
Another of his hobbies is wooden sign making, any profits from which he puts towards making improvements to his town.
Mr Smart said: “I’m adding to it all the time, making things, there is always something to do.
“From the front, I think it looks good and people say it looks good.
“People come and knock on the door and ask if they can take photos and I’ll say to them, ‘If you want you can come and look at the garden as well’.
“So they do and they’re just fascinated. They just can’t believe that they’re going into a garden which is built like this.”
Luckily for Mr Smart, wife Denise is very understanding of her husband’s hobby.
The couple even had their wedding reception in the Dude Ranch garden.
And though his current neighbours don’t mind his obsessive hobby, Mr Smart says previous neighbours haven’t always been so supportive.
“My wife is great,” Mr Smart said. “I met her when I was already into all of this so she just gets that it is my hobby.
“Nowadays I do get on with my neighbours but previously, before they moved out, I did have a neighbour who always reported me.
“But now everyone in the area knows me. My kids think I’m stupid and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I love it here.”
The back garden boasts a livery, a general store, a marshal’s office, an old shack, barbers, a jailhouse, a bank, a haberdashery, an undertakers and the centrepiece saloon – which provides the perfect setting for parties.
Mr Smart said: “We’ve had parties and everything in the saloon, lots of them, including my daughter’s 16th and my wife’s 50th.
“It’s lovely you know and it’s just somewhere to go rather than going out. I do it just for the love of it; it’s a hobby, like somebody going to play golf.
“They have to buy new clubs. Well, I have to buy a new roof.
“A lot of people ask why. Some people think I’m an idiot, they think I’m mad to have done it but when they see it, it changes their mind.
“Obviously we don’t get the Wild West weather here so I’m always repairing things and keeping on top of it.
“I just collect things and a lot of people give me gifts, it’s fantastic.
“Now a lot of people know who I am and what I’ve got and all that, I come home after I’ve been out and there’s something on my doorstep.”
Having collected hundreds of items of rare Wild West memorabilia including belt buckles, statues, and cooking utensils and spending hundreds on expensive cowboy boots and other clothing, Mr Smart says he’s lost track of how much money he’s spent.
He said: “To be honest, I wouldn’t like to put a price on it. I’ve spent thousands of hours on it.
“If your hobby’s golf, you don’t count how many golf balls you’ve used over the years.
“I’m quite into the fashion of the time as well and I actually get my boots from America. The cheapest pair I have was £200 and my dearest pair are about £450.
“I’ve stopped buying so much now because I’ve got a lot of gear.
“I’ve got a cavalry uniform, a gamblers outfit, an undertakers outfit, the barmen outfit, I’ve got every outfit for every building so when people come out I can be a different character.
“It’s great. I love it.”
Although construction has slowed in recent years due to his arthritis, Mr Smart says he’s still ‘plodding on’ with his hobby.
But having never yet been to America, he thinks he might now be too old to do so.
Mr Smart said: “I was saving to go to America, but then my friend in Australia was diagnosed with Stage four cancer and I went to see him instead.
“I think I’m too old to go now. The Wild West isn’t being carried on anymore.
“There used to be a big community around it but it involved older people who are now dying and the younger generations aren’t interested.
“It’s a shame, but they’re into the digital world now.
“I’ve got my own paradise in my back garden and even though my home is on a main road, down the bottom of my garden is like a different world.”
