IT's the city that never sleeps - and madcap Len Atkins could be forgiven a few sleepless nights as he pieced together a 9ft jigsaw depicting the Big Apple.

The 7,700-piece puzzle took over a spare bedroom at his bungalow at East End, North Leigh.

Every winter Len retreats to the room to pass away a few weeks tackling a huge jigsaw.

And while work is in progress his wife Margaret is banned from the room with her duster and Hoover.

This year he picked a puzzle showing a landscape of Manhattan including the sky, skyscrapers and water front.

"I've always loved doing jigsaws. I found this one at Puzzleland at Hay-on-Wey and I have not seen it anywhere else," said Mr Atkins, who is retired.

The mammoth puzzle measures just under 9ft by 3ft 3in and Mr Atkins built a special table to lay it all out on.

"There were about 2,500 pieces for the sky, another 2,500 for the centre with all the buildings and skyscrapers and about the same again for the waterfront. It took me about four and a half months to complete, spending about a couple of hours a day on it," said Mr Atkins.

Mr Atkins said: "I do all the cleaning myself while I'm doing the puzzle, so it does not get damaged."

The puzzle was so large he could not use the traditional method of completing all the outside first and then working on the inside.

"I could not reach the top of the table from standing at the front, so I had to do the top third and then moved it, with assistance, up the table and then the same with the middle.

My wife is quite happy with me doing these jigsaws but she does not get involved and I don't let visitors help in case any pieces go missing."

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