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Harold Tower, Isle of Man
Harold Tower is a Gothic castle that dates back to the 1830s and has plenty of impressive features, including spectacular views over the Isle of Man. It is for sale for £3.95 million.
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Harold Tower, Isle of Man
The castle boasts a lot of history – it was home to the artist John Martin, who painted ‘The Plains of Heaven’ and was also used as a hotel during the war. It has been in the same ownership since 2005 and was restored thoroughly between 2009 and 2012.
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Harold Tower, Isle of Man
Exciting design details include an arched entrance door, with the original coat of arms situated on each side and a light-filled entrance hallway with a traditional stone flagged floor.
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Harold Tower, Isle of Man
Further intriguing features include an octagonal reception hall, with five sets of double doors leading to downstairs rooms.
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Harold Tower, Isle of Man
The tower also has an impressive drawing room, dining room with handsome wood block floor and a modern kitchen.
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Harold Tower, Isle of Man
Upstairs, the master bedroom leads into a dressing room and has its own en-suite bathroom while the galleried landing offers plenty of light.
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Harold Tower, Isle of Man
Also included in the listing are two further properties, a coach house and a two-bed cottage, which prospective buyers can use for guests if they wish.
>Scroll right for more unusual homes.
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Stockford Lodge, Dorset
This charming Hansel and Gretel style cottage has a famous history. It was once used by artist Augustus John for romantic liaisons.
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Stockford Lodge, Dorset
The porch opens up to a good-sized dining room and unusually-shaped lounge room with an open fireplace and exposed wooden beams.
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Stockford Lodge, Dorset
Although small, this sweet cottage doesn’t lack in space. The thatched roof gives this house a chocolate-box feel and the flagstone flooring adds a traditional touch to the property.
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Kemeys Folly, Wales
Kemeys Folly is a former sheriff’s hunting lodge that was once featured on Grand Designs.
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Kemeys Folly, Wales
The £1.95m property was renovated by owners Dean and Sarah and includes a mix of modern and traditional touches.
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Kemeys Folly, Wales
With views overlooking nine counties in both Wales and England, Kemeys Folly would make the ideal home for families looking to move to the country.
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Boundary Cottage, Surrey
The £1.25m house was first constructed at Olympia before being rebuilt in a village near Caterham,
Park & Bailey
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Boundary Cottage, Surrey
The bright living room has a multitude of leaded windows as well those beautiful elm panels and an open-frame ceiling.
Park & Bailey
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Boundary Cottage, Surrey
This shot shows just how much land you get and the true splendour of those gardens.
Park & Bailey
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The Water Tower, Kennington
The £3.6million home was built in a 100ft water tower built in 1867 and was extended with a stunningly modern, two-storey glass cube.
Sotheby’s
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The Water Tower, Kennington
The living room was converted from a 30,000 gallon water tanks that supplied the Lambeth Workhouse in the 19th and 20th centuries,
Sotheby’s
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The Water Tower, Kennington
The roof terrace provides plenty of space for the most lavish of summer parties.
Sotheby’s
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Honeypot Cottage, Dorset
At first sight, this chocolate box round thatched cottage looks like it could have been around for a few hundred years.
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Honeypot Cottage, Dorset
However, it is, in fact, a brand-new home. The delightfully named Honeypot Cottage in the Dorset village of Lytchett Matravers, near Poole, was built as part of a new estate by a local developer, Oota Property, who designed the house as a circular centrepiece.
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Eynsham Hall, Oxfordshire
One of Oxfordshire’s “great country houses”, which is currently used as a 135-room hotel and lavish wedding venue, is for sale after its current owner gave it a £3million overhaul.
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Eynsham Hall, Oxfordshire
Eynsham Hall, a Grade II-listed Edwardian pile is on the site of a 1780 manor house which had a string of illustrious owners – including a London auctioneer and newspaper proprietor; a widowed countess; and the present freeholder’s grandfather, a mining engineer who made his fortune from copper in Portugal – before it was demolished in 1904.
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Whale Cay, Bahamas
A private island in the Bahamas once owned by a cross-dressing, tattooed, speed-boat racing heiress who had affairs with a string of Golden Age Hollywood actresses has gone on sale for just over £14million ($20million).
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Whale Cay, Bahamas
Celebrated in the Twenties as the “fastest woman on water”, Marion Barbara Carstairs became Britain’s top speedboat racer and held a world record in the sport. She cut a dashing figure around London, often cross-dressing and going by the name of Joe.
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Swiss Chalet, Hampton
This fantasy riverside home is constructed from a Swiss chalet that was imported to London in 1882 and converted into the ultimate party home in 2012.
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Swiss Chalet, Hampton
Arguably the most remarkable feature in the house is the 21-metre indoor beach in the basement. There are 40 tons of sand used to make the beach, which is warmed by underfloor heating and also has a stage and bar for parties.
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The Scottish isle of Ulva
The Scottish isle of Ulva is for sale for £4.25 million – but a private sales have been blocked while the local community try to raise the funds to buy it themselves.
Alamy
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Sea Wall House, Margate
Although the lavatory block is nothing much to look at, it’s in the perfect spot…
Strutt & Parker
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Sea Wall House, Margate
…with splendid views across the North Sea in the newly hipster town of Margate.
Strutt & Parker
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The Dome, Kent
This striking 1980s house is topped with a geodesic dome, a huge rarity worldwide, but especially in the pretty Kent village of Tatsfield.
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The Dome, Kent
Inside, the immense domed atrium covers a large, open-plan living area.
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Dutch Gardens, Wraysbury, Berkshire
On the site of a dull bungalow has been built this splendid fairytale property, complete with ‘ruined’ abbey.
Dexters
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Dutch Gardens, Wraysbury, Berkshire
The house is as ornate and marvellous inside as it is out.
Dexters
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The Chapel, Harrogate, North Yorkshire
The Chapel in Harrogate was built in 1896, its facade styled on the baroque Italianate Church designs and lavish architecture of the late 18th century. It is now on the market for a guide price of £1.5 million.
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The Chapel, Harrogate, North Yorkshire
The bedrooms are currently styled around south and south-east Asian themes – the most exotic features a blood-red opium bed and a ceiling covered in colourful hanging umbrellas.
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Rothes Glen House, Banffshire, Scotland
The 11-bedroom house incluides a four-storey tower and is set in nine acres of grounds with a lake.
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Rothes Glen House, Banffshire, Scotland
There are eight reception rooms in the property, which you could buy for the same price as a one-bedroom flat in Notting Hill.
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Elephant House, Frimley, Surrey
Buyers with a penchant for modernist architecture will love this three-bedroom brutalist beauty hidden in unassuming Frimley, Surrey. The semi-detached townhouse was designed by renowned architect Lawrence Abbott who, until recently, was a senior director at the Richard Rogers Partnership, the firm behind Lloyd’s of London and the Millennium Dome.
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Elephant House, Frimley, Surrey
The houses were nicknamed the “Elephant Houses” because of their colouring and tube-shaped features.
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33 King’s Stables Road, Edinburgh
In the shadow of Edinburgh castle, there’s only one catch with this beautiful house…
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33 King’s Stables Road, Edinburgh
…it’s set in the grounds of a churchyard and the garden is lined with gravestones.
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Railway carriage house, Pagham, West Sussex
The outside of the house looks like an ordinary seaside clapboard bungalow…
Farndell
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Railway carriage house, Pagham, West Sussex
…but inside a corridor runs between a pair of the 1885 Midland Railway carriages, which form most of the area of this 1,200sq ft house.
Farndell
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Water Tower, Lincolnshire
One of less than a dozen converted Victorian water towers in Britain, this building in Potterhanworth, a village near Lincoln, was converted in 1996 after lying empty for nearly 20 years.
Hunters
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Water Tower, Lincolnshire
Built in 1903, the tower’s tank had a water capacity of 37,000 gallons and was filled from an artesian borehole in a neighbouring field. It was endowed to provide a clean water supply to the local area by Richard Smith, founder of Christ’s Hospital in Lincoln and his family’s coat of arms can still be seen in the building’s brickwork.
Hunters
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The Wee House, Clerkenwell
This quirky narrow house in Clerkenwell measures just 8ft-wide (or 2.5m) and is known as the ‘Wee House’.
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The Wee House, Clerkenwell
The former shop sits on a narrow, triangular plot tucked between two taller residential blocks, tapering from the street façade into a point at the back.
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Campbell’s Platform, Wales
This 16th-century home comes with private use of the Campbell’s Platform request stop
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Campbell’s Platform, Wales
For the price of a Walthamstow terrace house, this six-bedroom mansion makes commuting a breeze — just stick out your arm and the train will stop for you