A LEGO-mad couple have built a six-foot high plastic brick model of Durham Cathedral.

Mike Addis and Catherine Weightman have built a unique Lego structure every Christmas for the last 20 years, despite their children becoming increasingly embarrassed by the hobby.

This year, in an attempt to get Tom, 22, Holly, 19, and Christopher, 16, interested in the family tradition, they offered them the choice of building project.

However, Mr Addis was forced to overrule their preference, after the siblings opted for a Star Wars Death Star.

“A Death Star wasn’t exactly Christmassy,” Mr Addis, of Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, said.

Now the children are refusing to help with the annual project.

“For years the children haven’t really wanted to be involved,” Mr Addis said.

“They’re bored of it and don’t like the publicity much either. We said they could choose, but it had to be Christmassy.”

“Choosing Durham Cathedral over a Star Wars Death Star was the final straw,” Ms Weightman said.

The cathedral model, which features the 900-year-old Norman shrine’s west end in red, includes about 150,000 bricks and took seven week to complete, between October 13 and November 30.

The couple were inspired by a recent visit to the cathedral, which is currently building its own 350,000-brick Lego model to help raise money for its £10m Open Treasure appeal.

Members of the public are invited to buy bricks for £1 each.

Ms Weightman, who is originally from West Rainton, County Durham, said: “I saw that and thought we could give it a go.”

“We kind of nicked their idea,” Mr Addis added.

Ms Weightman’s father Neil, who still lives in West Rainton, helped with the designs.

The model is currently in the family’s front room, with furniture moved and the television squashed into a corner.

However, unlike its inspiration, it will survive only until January 6, Twelfth Night, when the couple will hold a party with friends and begin the dismantling process.

Over previous years, the couple have built a huge gingerbread house, an angel and a snowman. In 2011, they made a Dalek Santa.