Mum transforms garden into incredible 'Dinoland' for her son for just £222

2 June 2021, 15:14 | Updated: 7 July 2021, 10:33

By Polly Foreman

The mum named Kellimarie created an amazing dinosaur-themed garden for her children.

A woman from Weston-super-Mare has showed off the unbelievable results after she transformed her garden into a 'Dinoland' for her kids.

Kellimarie, 33, wanted to create a large dinosaur-themed space for her son, and sourced bargains from Facebook Marketplace to do so.

Incredible, Kellimarie saved a whopping £4,000 on the project - and it cost her just £222.

She told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: "I made a small Dinoland for my son Bryson when he was two as he has always been obsessed with dinosaurs.

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"Back then we made a little square for him with 2 by 3 wood joined together. We painted it and filled it with compost and an upside down plant pot painted black. We sanded it off to give it a volcano effect, and I got herbs for 50p each in Asda. I added glass stones which were recycled from my wedding bowls, and we also collected wood from the beach and woods.

"He has since grown out of it now that he’s 5, but I soon came up with an idea. My decking area had rotted underneath, giving me a 12 by 12 foot area to play with, so I decided that I was going to make him a bigger Dinoland to play in."

Kellimarie revealed that she had Facebook Marketplace to thank for many of the bargains, saying: "I saw that people had begun hanging shower curtains up in their gardens for decorative effect, and I thought they must sell dinosaur ones. Fortunately I was able to find some amazing dinosaur shower curtains for just £12 each."

She added: "I collected a load of stones for free off Facebook Marketplace to use as drainage, and I managed to get sand from Marketplace as well for just £20. The rockery and edging stones were from Facebook too, free to collect.‘The four garden dinosaurs were just £16 from Olive and Sage. They came under a ‘buy two get one free’ deal. Unfortunately some are now out of stock, so I couldn’t purchase them all or I would have! They are great value for money.

"I bought my two Phoenix palms from B&Q. These were also a fantastic deal, as in most places they are sold for over £30 each. I got mine in a 2 for £14 offer.‘I created the planters myself by recycling my old decking. This saved more money as I only had to buy the screws.

"The most expensive part was the grass. I got the Orlando variety from Grass Direct and it cost £160. However, I wasn’t too concerned about that price after I spoke with the lady I collected the stones from off Facebook. She said she had been quoted £4000 for her artificial grass to be applied!"

She revealed that the floor space was the biggest task, saying: "First I cemented in the edging stones, then I filled in the area with stone and levelled it off with sand before I laid down the grass."