It may look pretty ordinary from the front but visitors to the back garden of a Didcot house find themselves in a tropical paradise, complete with Hawaiian-style Tiki hut.

Owners Darren Dixey and partner Clare Denton have kitted it out with wooden decking, an iPod connection, barbecue, deep-fat fryer, separate bar and beer fridge.

Mr Dixey, a former chef, said: “We are out there almost every weekend, year round, as it’s pretty warm under the shelter once you’ve got the barbie going.

“I go out there to cook a steak, have a few beers and we get our mates around.

“People call it the Tiki Hut because it looks quite Hawaiian with the reeds and when we have the string lights on at night time, it looks amazing.”

Mr Dixey and Ms Denton, who run party shop Celebrations on the corner of Turl Street, in Oxford, created the hut out of an old barn structure that the previous owners used as a car port.

The couple have spent five years refurbishing the three-bedroom house, including doubling the size of the landing and putting in an upstairs bathroom.

It includes a living/dining room, hall area, kitchen, solid wood flooring, period fireplace and wood-burning stove.

Now the couple and their two children — Pippa, three and one-year-old Toby — plan to move nearer their shop.

Number 14, Wessex Road, is on the market for £275,000. For more information, contact agents Cridland & Co on 01869 343600 or visit cridlands.co.uk