Couple transform home into James Bond film set

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Communities

A couple spent four months and about £3,000 transforming their home into a James Bond film set complete with German soldiers and 007 crashing into their bathroom in a hang glider.

Simon and Angie Mullane scoured the internet and travelled around the country to collect memorabilia for their New Year's Eve party in Poole, Dorset.

The couple, both 44, transformed their home into a homage to the fictional spy created by writer Ian Fleming.

Up to 40 guests were greeted at the roadside with a home-made checkpoint manned by one of several soldier mannequins dressed in authentic East German border guard uniforms bought from eBay.

They covered the front garden in camouflage cloth with two Sean Connery Bond mannequins performing stunts in the garden.

One was dangling from a hang glider, bought from Birmingham, so large its wing tip stuck into the first floor bathroom.

Another Bond sat expectantly inside a mini-helicopter alongside a giant missile built from an air condition extractor pipe.

They started planning the party in September after deciding on the theme.

Mrs Mullane said: "We are not particular fans but we thought it would make a great theme and it would be easy to dress up in black tie or a little black dress but in the end everyone made a massive effort with some fantastic costumes."

Mrs Mullane donned a gold body suit to become the Goldfinger character Jill Masterson.

They invited 26 people for a three-course meal and the rest for the after party. Invites were a top secret document announcing the New Year's mission statement and biographies of Bond heroes and villains to inspire fancy dress.

They built a marquee in their garden with another Bond statue and mannequins dressed as famous characters while clips from various Bond films played in the background.

It cost the pair about £3,000 but Mrs Mullane, who owns shoe shop 2 Die 4, said: "It was as a thank you to a lot of our loyal customers and our really good friends.

"They were absolutely gob smacked saying they could never have a party because of the lengths we had gone to. No one will invite us to any parties now."

Mr Mullane added: "We got lots of flowers and cards saying thank you afterwards."

The pair have a reputation for hosting elaborate parties having built a graveyard in their back garden for Halloween 2008 complete with underground smoke pipes, buried coffins and a coffin ice-bucket and they even bought a hearse.

Their next big party already in planning is for Mrs Mullane's 50th, but they have a few years yet.