WHITNEY-on-Wye blacksmith Nick Kerner has finished a project that has been two years in the hatching.

Nick, who has run his own company for more than 20 years, is used to turning his craft to meet unusual specifications but this spiral staircase and viewing platform for a tropical garden in Llanfilo, between Hay and Brecon, is unique.

Situated in a tropical butterfly hatchery within a sympathetic barn conversion, Nick was commissioned by residential architects Bywyd Development Ltd in 2004.

The project - Nick's first spiral staircase - took 10 weeks overall to construct, a period during which he saw butterflies hatching around him.