Expectant father builds unique cradle – from a whisky barrel

When Harry Newman found out he was going to be a father, he immediately knew what to do with that old whisky barrel in the garden. ‘I was planning to turn it into a planter or a toy chest. But because of the lockdown, I had a bit more time on my hands, so I decided to build a little cradle from it.’

Harry and his wife Kayleigh live in Cambridgeshire and are expecting their first child in November. Harry spent weeks sawing, planing, fitting and measuring to transform the old barrel into a cradle. ‘The inside had been charred black to give the whisky a smoky flavour. I had to clean and sand that first; I think that was the most work. Then I had to build the inside structure so a mattress could lie in it. Nothing is straight, so it was quite a puzzle.’

And what if it’s a girl?

All in all, Harry spent fifty hours on it, mainly during weekends and after work. ‘It was a lovely project to take my mind off all the coronavirus chaos,’ he says. Harry is a practical man, a skill he learned from his father and would love to pass on to his offspring. What does Kayleigh think of the result? ‘Beautiful! I do hope we have a son now, because we’ll probably have to modify the cradle a little for a daughter.’

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Source and photos: LadBible