One of the best bits of doing a DIY build is getting to play with all the toys. The first time I had the excavator in I described is as the week I lived a boyhood dream.

In the village where my house is, all the local kids grow up with tractors, excavators, quad bikes and the like, they can all drive them round the farms. However the same kids don't get ballet or piano lessons quite as easily as the city kids. To most city kids, these machines are something you look at. My kids have some of both worlds, we still have our city house, and they get to enjoy the things a city has to offer, they also get to drive the machines. My 2 year old son has T-shirts with pictures of him driving machines on them. These get quite a reaction at playgroup.