Meet the grandfather who spent 25 years transforming his backyard into a Wild West “town.”
Stephen Smart’s Dude Ranch includes a saloon, jail, bank, haberdashery and even an undertaker at the back of his semi-detached house in Sheppey, Kent, UK.
The 65-year-old has long been fascinated by films starring Clint Eastwood and John Wayne, which inspired him to build his own old-fashioned city.
But despite his obsession with the Wild West, he never went to America.
Smart – also known simply as “Dude” – began modeling his property, which today resembles a Hollywood movie set, on the U.S. border about 25 years ago.
A retired truck driver, he said, “I was just fascinated by the Wild West.
“It started with country music, then I researched the time period and then I started going to a few theme nights.
“Basically, I wanted a place to go, so I built the city. This is not a normal garden.
“It started with small buildings, then the saloon, and then it took off from there.”
Although he claims not to be a carpenter, Smart, a father of four, has hand-crafted every convincing Wild West building in his backyard.
The front of his house is also adorned with a cemetery, old wagon wheels, swinging parlor 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 making wooden signs, the profits from which he devotes to improving his town.
Smart said: “I’m always adding to it, creating things, there’s 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 tell them: ‘If you want, you can also come and see the garden.’
“That’s what they do and they’re just fascinated.” They just can’t believe they are walking into a garden built like this.
Luckily for Smart, wife Denise understands her husband’s hobby very well.
The couple even had their wedding reception in the backyard of Dude Ranch.
And while his current neighbors don’t mind his obsessive hobby, Smart says previous neighbors haven’t always been so supportive.
“My wife is awesome,” Smart said. “I met her when I was already into all this, so she understands that this is my hobby.
“Today, I get along well with my neighbors, but before, before they moved, I had a neighbor 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 rear garden includes a livery, general store, marshal’s office, old hut, barbers, prison, bank, haberdashery, undertakers and the central parlor – which provides the perfect setting for parties.
Smart said: “We’ve had parties and everything in the living room, lots of them, including my daughter’s 16th birthday and my wife’s 50th birthday.
“It’s lovely you know and it’s just a place to go rather than go out.” I just do it for love; it’s a hobby, like someone 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 crazy for doing this but when they see it it changes their mind.
“Obviously we don’t have Wild West weather here, so I’m always fixing things and staying on top of things.
“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 have and all that, I come home from being out and there’s something at my door.”
After collecting hundreds of rare Old West artifacts, including belt buckles, statues and cooking utensils, and spending hundreds on cowboy boots and other expensive clothing, Smart says he lost track of the money he spent.
He said: “To be honest, I wouldn’t want to put a price on it. I spent thousands of hours there.
“If your hobby is golf, you don’t count how many golf balls you’ve used over the years.
“I too am quite fashionable at the time and I buy my boots in America. The cheapest pair I own cost £200 ($251.28 USD) and my most expensive pair cost around £450 ($565.37 USD).
“I’ve stopped buying so much now because I have a lot of stuff.
“I have a cavalry uniform, a gambler outfit, an undertaker outfit, a bartender outfit, I have all the outfits for each building so when people come out I can be a different character.
“It’s good. I like it.”
Although construction has slowed down in recent years due to his arthritis, Smart says he continues to “move forward” with his hobby.
But having never been to America, he thinks he may now be too old to do so.
Smart said: “I was saving up 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 is no longer valid.
“There was a great community around this project, but it was about old people who are now dying and the younger generations are not interested in it.
“It’s a shame, but they are now in the digital world.
“I have my own paradise in my garden and even though my house is on a main road, at the bottom of my garden it’s like a different world.”
New York Post
