Couple builds Beatles-themed yellow submarine Airbnb

By Filipa Gaspar

A couple have built a Beatles-themed Yellow Submarine Airbnb - and even John Lennon's family has come to stay.

Keith Lovelock and his wife Jen built the submarine - and turned it into one of the quirkiest holiday stays in the world.

The whole rental is dotted with references to nautical travel and the Beatles -and even comes with a John Lennon-inspired mannequin.

The accommodation in Marton, Manawatu-Wanganui, New Zealand is deemed by Airbnb as one of the quirkiest places to stay.

The Yellow Submarine costed around $20k to build and comfortably houses four guests and still has room for a proper kitchen and bathroom.

Keith said they have had John Lennon's relatives staying at the accommodation.

Keith who lives near the Airbnb said: "The idea came a few years ago when I was in a yellow restaurant two hours south from here and I just said it out loud in front of the family 'I'll build a yellow submarine'.

"Years later and probably about $20,000 we had a yellow submarine. There was no design as such it was an interactive procedure. It is like suck it and see as you go.

"The kids said to put it on Airbnb and I said 'What's Airbnb?'. The next thing they know it was on Airbnb and we have interesting people turning up from all around the world. It just took on a life of itself.

"The weird thing is people come here and they return to their childhood because it's just make believe and kids they behave like adults, it's interesting.

"Airbnb decided to put us on the OMG category and do us promotion. I think they had an Airbnb video that had about 60 million views before they took it down because it was just getting out of hand.

"It's been really weird but in the end we're just domestics washing on and cleaning and doing the changeover every day and hanging out the washing, ironing before we get the next crew in."

Keith, who is a former radio technician, said the submarine has almost entirely been constructed using up-cycled materials, such as an old grain silo, spa bath and milking shed.

Apart from the obvious Beatles-theme, Keith revealed that there are other three themes - Cold War, North Atlantic in 1942, and steampunk submarine.

From the get go he wanted the submarine to be yellow-painted.

To make it stand out he placed it in a "sea of green" in a wooden area.

Its construction was completed within a year in 2019.

Entering through a ramp, the submarine displays a bulkhead door, around twenty portholes and even a ship's wheel.

With the submarine being adorned with many objects, Keith revealed that often visitors tend to leave their belongings behind.

He said: "We get a lot of stuff left behind because it's so overdecorated in the sub that it's hard to discern one object from another so people often forget to take their belongings with them."

He said people from around the globe visit the accommodation all year around - and even John Lennon's relatives have paid their visit.

Keith said: "We are not a destination in a holiday type resort. We're a stopover so people use mostly one night, tick it off their bucket list, go 'wow' and then move on.

"We have had some of John Lennon's relations turning up once. That was fascinating.

"It was not long after it was built and so they had the tour through and it was a very special day for us.

"They brought a lot of John's paraphernalia along with them."

According to Airbnb the pricing for the Yellow Submarine - which is rated 4.93 stars - starts from $104 per night.