A student camped in a back garden in Greater Manchester for a year after he was unable to afford rent on top of his £20,000 tuition fees.

Evan Eames, from Montreal in Canada, appealed on various online forums for a camping spot after realising he would be “drowning in debt” to pay the fees for his astrophysics master’s degree at the University of Manchester.

The 24-year-old was offered a free pitch in Charley Mantack’s back garden in Heaton Chapel, Stockport, after she spotted his appeal on Gumtree, in which he promised tuition in maths, physics, computer science or French, in return.

He endured snow, high winds and persistent Mancunian rain for 10 months before packing up his tent and heading back to Canada last week.

In an advert he posted on Reddit last year, Eames set out what a potential host would gain from his presence, including extra security and bragging rights. “You would be able to tell your friends you have a Canadian physicist living in your backyard (come on, how cool is that?)” he wrote.

Evan Eaves makes his appeal on Reddit Photograph: Reddit

Mantack, who nicknamed Eames her physics gnome, told the Manchester Evening News (MEN): “I was looking for a flatmate. I saw he wanted to stay in a back garden and I thought, why not, it was weird enough.



“I loved telling people about it, I like weird, out of the ordinary things like that.”

In return, Eames gave her tuition in maths to help her through GCSE courses at Stockport College.

According to the MEN, he kept warm during winter by wearing two pairs of thermal pants, a sweater, a onesie and a jacket. After finding love with another astrophysics student, he managed to lure her back to the tent: she was the only woman he met during the experience who was unfazed by the fact he lived in a tent, he told the paper.

On another Reddit thread last week, Eames answered questions from curious users.

One wanted to know how he went to the toilet and washed. He said: “Bathing: shower at school. Bathroom: once before leaving for the tent, once after returning.”

Another was sceptical: “You pissed in the garden, don’t lie,” wrote [–]drakesylvan.

Eames owned up: “I did a few times, I will admit, but not as much as you might think. I’m on good terms with my bladder.”

He told another Reddit questioner that Mantack had offered him a bed on the coldest nights but that he did not want to impose on her.

“Seeing as I wasn’t paying rent, I would have felt somewhat guilty living in their house. The owner many times offered her sofa, especially on the cold nights, but I was quite cosy in my tent, and didn’t want to impose,” he wrote.

He said he used Mantack’s shower only once, shortly after arrival, but used her washing machine and would occasionally watch TV with her in the house.

Evan Eames’s tent in the Stockport winter Photograph: Manchester Evening News Syndication

Asked for his best and worst memories of his Stockport camping experience, Eames wrote: “Let’s see … Worst was definitely one time I came home after a snowstorm and the wind had pulled up the pegs of my tent and rolled it on its side. I was quite cold and tired, so sorting that out was the last thing I was in the mood to do. I turned it upright, tidied up the inside, and crawled in shivering. Was the only time I came close to giving up on tent life.

“Best was one time I crawled in on a warm spring day, and it started raining just as I got inside. The pitter-patter on the top of the tent was so soothing and I felt so warm and safe in my tiny little sanctuary … It was quite a lovely experience that will stay with me for a while.”