Lancaster Castle constructed from toast. Pic: Matt Close

Matt Close, 30, moved from Lancaster to London to pursue a career in construction, where he is currently living in lockdown - 200 miles from his home town.

Celebrating his 30th birthday alone at the weekend, unable to visit family or friends, Matt decided to recreate a little bit of Lancaster in his own front room.

The proud Lancastrian has turned his construction skills to building a stunning replica of Lancaster Castle, made entirely out of toast.

Matt Close said his toast construction of Lancaster Castle took him around 5 hours to build. Pic: Matt Close

"I needed something to kill the lockdown boredom, so I created Lancaster Castle out of toast," said Matt.

"I work in construction in London and I create lots of things in my spare time, but it’s usually hard to find the time for anything besides work.

"But lock down has given me more time and given me the chance to build a little bit of Lancaster here in London.

"It took me about five hours, with a couple of breaks included in that, to finish it.

The real Lancaster Castle - the oldest building in Lancaster. Pic: Penny Park

"I hadn’t originally planned to build anything else out of toast, but my mind is in overdrive now and I'm thinking of doing more."

Matt said he has a couple more iconic Lancashire buildings in mind for future projects, but said he is keeping it a surprise for folks back home.

"The inspiration here in London is endless, but I wanted to emulate something from home, so Lancaster Castle it was.

"I have something in mind for my next one, but you'll just have to wait and see."

And the loaf that provides the best building materials for Lancaster's medieval castle?

"It's Kingsmill 50/50. Two loaves. I hadn't really paid much attention to what bread I was using, but it seems to have done the job well enough, " quipped Matt.

And the hardest part of Matt's epic 'toast-castle challenge'?

Matt said: "Probably the vacuuming up, there were crumbs everywhere. I had to vacuum three times."