by Simon Tulett

A football fan has brought the garden of England to his back door - literally.

It's a case of three lions on the turf for Alex Adams, who has shown his support for England's World Cup efforts by having the Three Lions crest mowed into his lawn.

Rather than wear his heart on his sleeve, he took his support for the nation's footballers one step further and called in artist Chris Naylor to recreate the 16ft by 20ft emblem.

The 23-year-old, who shares his home in Jupp Court, Higham, with girlfriend Jenny Stevens, also 23, said: "The World Cup only comes around every four years so I wanted to do something special to show my support for Fabio and the boys. My girlfriend is always nagging me to cut the lawn but even she can't believe this."

Mr Naylor, who has previously sculpted the Mona Lisa into a customer's garden, spent three days creating the patriotic picture with a Worx lawnmower and a handful of garden tools - an operation almost as painstaking as England's progress in South Africa.

Mr Adams, who is planning to start a trainee teacher course in London later this year, said: "Before anything started there was lots of measuring up and drawing so we would know where to cut. It was really interesting to watch an artist at work.

"I had a little go and helped out with the simple bits. I didn't try any of the detail because if you get anything wrong that's it.

"The level of detail is amazing - it looks brilliant from the upstairs bedroom."