A Garden Shed of the Year finalist may have to pull down his celebrated pixie grotto – because it doesn’t have planning permission.

Jonathan Melville-Smith, 61, built his ‘Jack Sparrow House’ out of recycled wood in his back garden at Tregaminion, between St Keverne and Porthallow.

The “wibbly-wobbly shape” and unusual colour scheme won him a place in the finals of a national contest to find Britain’s most quirky shed. However, it has now emerged he needs planning permission and Cornwall Council said it has begun enforcement action against him.

Home-owners are allowed to put up modest outbuildings without special authorisation, but Mr Melville-Smith’s fairytale structure needs planning consent because he’s using it as a holiday let and it is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Inside it has a circular table, gas hob, handwashing basin, shelves for crockery, a bench seat and a bunk bed on a tiny mezzanine level.

Mr Melville-Smith said he had no idea it needed the council’s go-ahead before he built it last year, along with a series of gypsy huts.

He said: “At the time I didn’t really think garden sheds needed planning permission.

“I didn’t set it out as a holiday let. I suppose I thought at the time, ‘it’s a shed’.

“Lots of people stop and take photographs and say how special it is to see something so unusual.

“It’s sort of a wibbly-wobbly shape and has a door that looks a bit like a flame, and reminds people of pixies and fairies.

“We’re in touch with the planning authority,” he said. “There’s a planning application in the process.”

This year the hut was a finalist on Channel 4’s Shed Of The Year programme in the ‘most unique’ category.

It is listed on travel websites as offering a “cozy and unique holiday adventure”, enjoying spectacular sunsets and views of Falmouth Bay.

Channel 4 said the row was a matter between Mr Melville-Smith and the planning authority.

A spokesman for Cornwall Council said: “Cornwall Council can confirm that there is an ongoing enforcement case in respect of unauthorised development at this site and we have been advised that an application will be submitted shortly.

“In the event that an application is not forthcoming, the council will determine the next appropriate course of action.”