EVERY man's home is his castle, and for a Preston reclaimer, it could not be closer to the truth.

Eddie Whiteside, of Kittlingbone Brow, Higher Walton, has spent the last ten years building himself his own unique place to live, complete with church spire, tower, log cabin, tree house, and summer house.

Eddie, an engineer by trade, started building his 'castle' when the run-down semi attached to his house went on the market.

"It was falling down, I virtually had to rebuild it and that's how it all started," he said.

"Then whenever I could afford to, rather than going on holiday, I bought a bit more land, and kept adding to it."

Now Eddie's garden stretches across two acres, and is adorned with an array of unusual trees, shrubs and plants which he has picked up pursuing his hobby as a reclaimer.

Eddie said: "I go to places after the professionals have been in. It is typically somewhere that is being pulled down to make way for a new road or a new development.

"They want the place clearing completely, so I just take away stuff that no-one else wants.

"It's amazing what you can find, and the sorts of uses you can find for things."

Some of Eddie's conquests have even ended up on TV in the hands of architectural antique dealers who need unusual pieces.

"They come to me because I take all the junk that no-one else wants," said Eddie. "Sometimes I can end up with a real quirky item that would go well in a show."

Some of the more exotic pieces have found their way into his own property, which he calls Wits' End.

The house is easily identified from the street as it's probably the only one in the area with a 30ft spire, which he reclaimed in its entirety from a former hospital in Lancaster.

The spire sits on a large stone porch which Eddie built himself with stone from various places, including two marble pillars which, in a previous life, were used as huge rolling pins, by a famous chocolate maker, to roll chocolate.