MOST railway carriages are heading for the scrapyard when they are taken off the rails.

But after buying one such carriage for just £23, an Oxfordshire man has spent 11 years and nearly £7,000 restoring it to its former glory.

Peter Strange, 65, from Sutton, near Stanton Harcourt, now enjoys eating his breakfast in the carriage – in his back garden – each morning.

The antique restorer said: “This carriage would have transported well over a million people during its lifetime.

“It has real history – people lived in it during the 1930s and 40s.”

The carriage was made in 1883 and ran in North West England and South Wales before being withdrawn in 1930.

It was then used as a house in Sutton until the 1960s.

Mr Strange bought the carriage in 1989 and set to work refurbishing it with brother-in-law Richard Lucas.

He said: “Only the basic frame had survived and we had to take it apart, plank by plank, numbering them and then reassembling it.

“It’s great to have breakfast in there in the summer, and we have held murder mystery evenings to raise money for the local church too.”

Mr Strange is now in the running for the national 2012 Shed of the Year competition, along with dozens of others from around the county.

The Disco Shed from Temple Street, Oxford, run by DJ friends Paddy Bickerton and Aidan Larkin, has also entered the contest.

Mr Bickerton, 33, said: “This all started when Aidan moved into his current house in 2005 and had a housewarming party. We ventured out into his jungle of a garden and found this great little shed.

“It had a window looking back into the garden with a shelf and we thought it would be perfect for our decks, with the speakers on top.

“It was a brilliant night and we decided it would be a great idea to take it on the road.”

The Disco Shed is transported by truck and has since been spotted at Truck Festival, Reading, Latitude, Cornbury and the Big Chill and other events across the country.

Mr Bickerton added: “We are very proud of our shed and it’s helped us live the dream of becoming full-time DJs.”

Penny Stephens, from Launton near Bicester, owns Frankenshed – a shed built from the remains of three other sheds on allotments in the village.

Her daughters Phyllie and Susie helped turn the shed into their own ice cream parlour 18 months ago with the help of a little paint.

Mrs Stephens said: “It’s a lovely little place and although it’s been vandalised and broken into a few times, that just adds to its charm really.”

The contest – entered by hundreds of people from across the country – is run by company Cuprinol and winners will be announced in early July, to coincide with National Shed Week.