A DAD and his teenage daughter are embarking on a journey across the length of the country for charity – but their vehicle of choice may cause a few double takes.

Gardener Kevin Nicks will tackle the epic 870-mile journey from Land’s End to John O’Groats, and he won’t be completing the challenge on a bike or in a car.

Instead, he and his daughter are making the trip in the world’s fastest shed – a contraption of his own creation that can reach speeds of nearly 100mph.

Mr Nicks, of Chipping Norton, will take the speedy shack to the road on Wednesday, August 16, leaving from Katharine House Hospice near Banbury.

The 52-year-old, who will be joined by his 14-year-old daughter Sophie, hopes to raise £10,000 for the hospice, which cared for his mother before she died of cancer earlier this year.

A true English eccentric, Mr Nicks looks forward to putting smiles on faces throughout the country as he whizzes past in one of the most bizarre but road-worthy vehicles people are likely to see.

Mr Nicks said: “Driving it on a motorway it’s constantly getting filmed, and you see people smile all the time. It makes people happy – which is what the population should be.

“I came up with the idea for the trip because I wanted to do something that included my daughter - something that took us to parts of England that people just don’t go to. The whole thing is a complete adventure."

After setting off from the hospice on Wednesday, Mr Nicks and his daughter will head down to Land's End, from where they will properly embark on the challenge.

Mr Nicks has arranged for hot rods and classic cars to join them for a part of the route, calling on owners of interesting vehicles to join them in Gloucestershire.

The journey, which he expects to take about a week, will also include a stop at Elvington Airfield, near York, where he will attempt to break his own speed record, currently set at a top speed of 99.766mph.

He said: “The trip will cost me because I work for myself – but there’s more to life than work. It’s all about memories – and the more you do, the more you make."

Mr Nicks built the wooden shed on top of a 1999 Volkswagen Passat he didn't have the heart to scrap.

He had purchased the car to use its front end for repairs on his other Passat. When contemplating fixing the front of the vehicle and concluding any work would look boxy and out-of-sync with the rest of the car, Mr Nicks has his eureka moment of transforming the vehicle into a shed.

The project cost £5,000 and took just over six months to complete, finishing in 2015.

Since then, Mr Nicks and his shed have appeared on TV and radio, and met stars like Chris Evans and George Clarke.

Mr Nicks said: “We’re all only here once and it’s about what we do when we’re here. A lot of people will get to the end and think ‘isn’t that a dull life I lived’.

"Some people do ask me why I want to drive around in a shed. And I say because I don’t want to drive around in a boring car like everyone else."

For more details and to find out how to support Mr Nicks go to facebook.com/Fastshed