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Rated: · Non-fiction · Western · #1473645
A retired postman is so obsessed with the Wild West he has recreate it in his garden.
A retired Scottish postman is so obsessed with the Wild West he has decided to recreate it in his back garden.
Alistair Baranowski has already built a saloon in the garden of his house at Drumblair, Aberdeenshire, but now he wants to create a replica frontier town and call it Tranquillity.
The 53-year-old said he wants to put up seven more buildings including a jail house, school, court and a bank.
Alistair, aka Johnny B, retired two years ago so he could indulge his life-long passion full-time.
"Since childhood I have always loved the westerns on TV and the movies.
"I used to love Rawhide and my favourite movies are Shane, the Magnificent Seven and Red River.
"John Wayne is my favourite actor - he is the hero of westerns."
The would-be gunslinger is a founding member of Open Range, a national association of Wild West enthusiasts and is also involved in the Arizona Rangers - a western re-enactment team.
When his town is up and running he hopes to stage gunfights and recreate his favourite moments in the history of the frontier.
"There's lots of space for people to come and set up camp and get involved.
Bachelor Alistair said: "I would not be able to do any of this if I was married and I have made a lot of friends over the years through the groups.
"A group called the Texas Rangers from Glasgow are coming up to see me."
"Friends in America sure think it's great what I am doing here."
When he's dressing up and taking part in re-enactment Alistair said he doesn't mind being a goodie or a baddie.
"It doesn't matter to me," he said, "As long as I get some action I'll take any role."
He has a one-acre field for his new town and half an acre of woodland for gunfights.
The saloon has a bar but no licence so anyone wanting three fingers of red-eye will have to bring their own booze.
"When I was building the saloon I was trying to come up with a name but nothing sounded right.
"But one day it just came to me, it was a really fine day and there are some great views here and there it was - tranquillity.
"I think that's how a lot of the old frontier towns were named.
"I'm going to put up a sign saying 'welcome to Tranquillity' and it will be riddled with bullet holes," he joked.
Alistair has travelled all over America to visit the places of his childhood dreams including Dodge City and Tucson.
"Arizona is a great place for watching gunfights," he said.
Alistair said he wants to round up a posse of people to help him get his dream off the ground.
"I need to get a few more bodies involved to help me put these here buildings up. But I need to get the planning permission, ken?
"We need more help from local people to get this off the ground - there must be some shy westerners out there somewhere who want to get involved.
"A couple of women have come along but I think they were more interested in the line dancing.
"And eventually I want to deck the buildings out with old furniture to make it all look like the real thing.
"The response to what I am doing here has been great. A film maker has even been in touch and said he wants to shoot a western here when everything has finished."

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