A MAN who built an 88ft replica of the Titanic in his back garden has had the attraction voted one of the best museum experiences.
Stan Fraser's Titanic Museum also includes a 45ft RNLI lifeboat, the 10-tonne wheel house of a fishing trawler and a mini-submarine.
The poll of visitors' experiences in Inverness was carried out by TripAdvisor. Experience 4x4 at Farr came top, Aigas Field Centre, near Beauly, second, and Stan's Titanic Museum third.
"I am chuffed to bits," said the 48-year-old father-of-five. "It is great – we don't advertise but people seem to be coming here after seeing us on TripAdvisor. They seem to be loving it and there has been some really good comments online."
Rated as either excellent or very good, visitors describe it as a perfect place for children.
Mr Fraser built his attraction at the Old Toll House using recycled material and donations.
It started 16 years ago when the 48-year-old decided to give his house beside the Caledonian Canal a nautical theme. He came across two portholes in a scrap yard and put them in his doors.
He then started collecting maritime items such as creels, nets and buoys.
Stan, who grew up in a fishing family, then decided he would make a boat in his garden for his children.
"I just kept adding to it," he said.
It took Stan, a former lighting engineer, four attempts before he settled on the version of the tragic liner which is in his garden.
The 88ft-long replica is one tenth of the size of the real Titanic. It has a caravan as its base and the sound of the liner's real foghorn. It has four funnels, a Parisian-themed cafe and a cabin.
"Someone just said to me, 'You've got enough stuff for a museum' so I thought, I will do that then," he said.
The museum opened last April to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's doomed sailing from Southampton.
The area also boasts a new £9 million visitor centre at Culloden, run by the National Trust of Scotland, and the Highlanders' Regimental Museum at Fort George, which has had a £2.9m upgrade.
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