LEGO fan builds cabin for collection after being served 'eviction notice' by his wife

An avid LEGO fan has built a cabin in his garden to house his vast collection - after being given an ultimatum by his wife. James Bruce, a writer from Liskeard, collected the popular toys when he was a child but he forgot about them when he became an adult, until he had a son.

His boy became interested in LEGO so James dug out his old collection, then watched on in horror as his offspring tore apart his prized creations so he could play with the blocks. James decided the sensible thing was to have two collections, one for his son and one for him, and soon he found himself collecting the colourful bricks once again.

But his collection, bought in part from LEGO retailer Madbricks, soon grew so large that he was served a "LEGO eviction notice by the wife", so he built a cabin and moved it all outside.

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James said: "I was really into collecting LEGO as a child and I have fond memories of playing with my pirate-themed sets and city builds every Christmas. Thankfully, my parents kept all my LEGO bricks in their loft and gave it back to me 25 years later when we got our own house.

"I put the collection away for a few years as my son was too young to play with it at the time, then I introduced it to him when he turned six years old. Something sparked within me, and I decided to build him a table to create his own town.

"But to me, he was playing with it all wrong. It was infuriating to see him break up my cherished LEGO city sets. I know that's the point of building LEGO, so I decided that it was best if I start my own collection that he can't break. Pretty soon I had filled the living room, and I was served a LEGO eviction notice by the wife."

Soon James had bought a wooden cabin to house his impressive collection. Now his creations are permanently on display in the bespoke showroom, which even has a sign - in the LEGO font.

James continued: "I bought a small cabin, dubbed 'The Brickpit', and built it in the garden to house the hundreds of LEGO models I've collected.

"The most expensive set I own is the 'Welcome to Apocalypseburg' from the LEGO Movie 2 series, which I had to source online and cost me over £400'.

"The edge of my cabin is surrounded by custom-built shelving, so I can divide my collections up into zones. I'm not precious about everything being pristine; however, everything gets integrated into a scene and brought to life. I don't want my LEGO to sit there and do nothing on the shelf, they're designed to be played with after all."

James said his rediscovered love for LEGO has allowed him to spend more quality time with his family, as the whole family build sets together.

He added: "Building LEGO together is one of my family's favourite activities and whilst we enjoy building new sets, buying mixed bricks in bulk and seeing what we can build is what we enjoy the most. A single bulk buy of LEGO bricks can keep my family busy for months. My wife loves to sort the bricks, whilst my son is building random creations and I'm working out what sets the bricks originally came from.

"Completing a LEGO set certainly has a sense of achievement when we can admire the finished build and see all the stories that the designers put in. I often incorporate and rearrange the cityscapes I've created and figure out how the new set fits into the story. Then I'll add some more mini-figures or other bits to bring life to the scenes.

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"I'm fortunate that my day job isn't too stressful, however building LEGO is definitely cathartic. I like the physicality of it and, similar to board games and puzzles, it hasn't been replaced by a digital version or a video game. There's just something about manipulating the physical bricks in a world that otherwise does everything on a screen.

"It's also taught me how important the concept of 'play' is as an adult; I think a lot of people have resigned that to childhood."