Earlier Listings…..

Unique Property Bulletin – Earlier Addition: 9th June 2019

Former Hospital Accommodation

Guide: £589,000.

Detached Grade II Listed Lodge. 3 Bedrooms.

Fairfield Mews, Fairfield, Hitchin, Bedfordshire, SG5 4BU

This spacious, light family home is situated amidst beautiful surrounding grounds. The ground floor accommodation consists of a lounge/dining room with French doors leading into Sun Room, stepping up into a modern fitted kitchen, Bedroom 2 with French doors leading to a west facing terrace. The modern fitted bathroom is located a few steps down from the hallway.

Fairfield Mews, Fairfield, Hitchin, Bedfordshire, SG5 4BU

This home is a cottage within the grounds of the former Stotfield Three Counties Asylum (Fairfield Hospital). Principal Architect: George Fowler Jones. Opened: 1859. Closed: 1999. Construction of the hospital commenced in 1856 on a 253-acre (230 acres cultivated) site between Letchworth, Arlesey and Stotfold. The land was purchased for £11,000. The new hospital was to replace the Bedford Lunatic Asylum in Ampthill Road in Bedford, which had been built in 1812.

The Old Hospital (Archive Information: Here)

It is sobering to contemplate the very bricks of this handsome house were being laid at the same time, literally, as the clock mechanism in Big Ben at London was wound-up and started for the first time…

Big Ben Clock Started To Chime As Your House Bricks Were Being Laid!

Big Ben and Elizabeth Tower is not that far away from the Asylum either (geographically and philosophically). This cottage is within commuting distance for central London, yet has a beautifully established garden surrounding and is a sizeable detached house compared to what £589,000 would buy in the Capital.

As for the purpose of the main hospital. There was a lot of lunacy doing the rounds.

Napoléon Bonaparte invaded Russia in 1812 – the year that the founders of Fairfield Hospital decided to build this facility to replace the Bedford Lunatic Asylum. It is politically incorrect to use the word lunacy nowadays. However, it is still a fitting word for the slaughter caused by Emperor Napoléon when he led France to invade Russia.

Between 1812 and 1859 There Was A Lot of War: Hence The Need For This Type of Hospital

The aforementioned is just a little context in this Unique Property Bulletin segment to provide some idea of what “Grade II listed” carries with it in terms of history. Fast forward 160 years and there is much peace and quiet now to be had at this former hospital cottage…

Fairfield Mews, Fairfield, Hitchin, Bedfordshire, SG5 4BU – Handsome Brickwork.

This picturesque cottage within the old hospital grounds has had a complete renovation. We are not overly sure about what the estate agents mean in their features when they mention a “secure gated community”. Does that mean locking people out, or locking you in!

Fairfield Mews, Fairfield, Hitchin, Bedfordshire, SG5 4BU

One of three bedrooms.

Fairfield Mews, Fairfield, Hitchin, Bedfordshire, SG5 4BU

Floor Plans For Guidance. Please Do Not Scale

Location Map Courtesy of Google Inc.

Fairfield Mews, Fairfield, Hitchin, Bedfordshire, SG5 4BU

Guide: £589,000.

Leasehold with 997 Years Remaining.

For further photographs…

Click Here

Or telephone the estate agency: 01462 659730

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Unique Property Bulletin – Earlier Addition: 25th May 2019

Coalport Railway Station House & Letting Business

Price Reduction: from £950,000 to…

£895,000.

Is it now time for a cheeky offer perhaps?

We first listed this beautiful piece of unique property conversion in summer 2017 (halfway down this Bulletin: here – includes extra photographs). Since then the property has been reduced by £55,000. The old railway station has been converted and renovated to a contemporary 5 bedroom detached home. In addition, there are two, 2 bedroom holiday units in the form of railway carriages located in the grounds.

Station House, Coalport, Shropshire, TF8 7JF

Included in this sale are two splendid railway carriages that form part of the holiday letting business. Each has a beautifully presented interior…

Coalport Railway Station Holidays: One of The Carriage Interiors

The current owners have a dedicated website to promote the holiday and income side of this property…

www.coalportstation.com

Refurbished Waiting Room Is A Fine Feature of Past Railway Heritage

Also, this waiting room is now a very useful garden office.

Waiting Room Interior. Ideal For A Unique Home Based Internet Business.

If this railway station + holiday carriages + waiting room conversion + 2 acres is still for sale in a years time, Unique Property Bulletin are likely to put in a bid as we need an office further south to our current lighthouse HQ. This wonderful waiting room is just the ticket for us. Look at all those brilliant monitors. You could run a website from this place with great enjoyment.

If you have an internet business, this may be an ideal candidate. The two railway carriages are an excellent financial stabilising factor to harmonise with the vagaries of internet income sources.

Railway House Conversion & Railway Carriage Plans For Guidance. Please Do Not Scale

Please note, this floorplan has been provided in good faith to assist in visualising the layout. However, prospective buyers should rely on their own due diligence and measurements in order to satisfy themselves as to accuracy.

Location Map Courtesy of Google Inc.

Reduced from: ~~£950,000~~ to £895,000:

For information and/or to arrange a viewing of the Coalport converted railway station and train holiday coaches please contact:-

Tom Wright at Strutt & Parker: 01743 284200.

Click Here

For The Estate Agency Particulars & Lots of Photographs.

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Unique Property Bulletin – New Addition: 23rd May 2019

We Have Some Cliff

Not the singer, the vertical rock-face sort sort of cliff. Same thing but different!

We are looking to build a cliff house…

Primarily to assist architect and television presenter George Clarke’s new series.

Please can you help? Which style do you, our Bulletin readers prefer?

Icelandic Style Cliff House. Artwork courtesy of Alex Hogrefe

You like?

If YES, please Text “Icelandic” to us on 0793 557 2803.

(no extra call charge, just your standard network package applies)

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Or….

Skyfall Cliff House. Artwork Courtesy of Durgasrinivas Yarramsetty

You like?

Please Text “Skyfall” to us on 0793 557 2803.

(no extra call charge, just your standard network package applies)

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Or….

Grand Canyon Cliff House.

You like?

Please Text “GrandCanyon” to us on 0793 557 2803.

(no extra call charge, just your standard network package applies)

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Or…

CliffBox. Artwork Courtesy of Charlotte Wilson

You like?

Please Text “CliffBox” to us on 0793 557 2803.

(no extra call charge, just your standard network package applies)

This discreet CliffBox design by Charlotte Wilson is probably the most viable. It can withstand very high winds and awesome storms. It has the least, if any impact on local flora and fauna: have you met an angry puffin! The Walled Garden area already has a redundant building: so a discreet underground suite of rooms and a short underground corridor could lead from this to a new cliff-box feature of the proposed house.

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Unique Plans

Primarily for us to assist architect and television presenter George Clarke’s new series.

Here is the Unique Property Bulletin HQ at Noss Head Lighthouse Station (here) which we just realised was purchased by our organisation exactly two years ago on 23rd May 2017. The majority of the buildings are now rescued from becoming derelict and back to their old selves, along with a major refurb., for the main lighthouse tower.

At the moment, we are just having a think about the newbuild, subterranean cliff-house element, but if you owned an amazing cliff, what would you do? We blame George Clarke – in a good way :-). He started us thinking about this. So if we end up with several angry birds onsite as a result – they are getting sent to George’s office!

Here is our Unique Property Bulletin Cliff. “X” Marks The Spot Available.

Photo By the brilliant Mr Ian Cowe (click here)

In some ways, this is a flight of fancy. There are three Grade A listed buildings on this site, and the cliffs are magnificent. So in our hearts it would need to be a very special design to work. We dislike the ugly metal mast (in the above photo) intensely and are aiming for a very low impact design that will not detract nor disturb the surrounds.

BUT we would like to hear the views of our readers. IF we can locate a design that would be capable of building AND pass the considered opinions of the local planning department, then as we own a cliff, and love unique property, then perhaps this is the time to build one of these amazing cliff homes.

Please let Unique Property Bulletin know your views…

TEXT: 0793 557 2803

Thankyou.

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Unique Property Bulletin – Earlier Addition: 16th May 2019

At Last: the new television series we have been waiting for:

George Clarke & Unique Plans

Please can our readers help?

It has been a tough few weeks since our founder had quite a bad accident. So this weekend our small team of volunteers got some great news.

Unique Property Bulletin have just been contacted by Mr George Clarke’s television producers looking for folk who bought an unusual property and have…

Unique Plans

…to turn their fire station, lighthouse, coastguard station, bank, railway station, underground bunker, signal box, police station etc., into an unusual home. It is important that you have plans that are ready to progress.

If you would like to share your experience going forward with your project and would enjoy having one of the premier architects in the UK onside to help you along the journey, please get in touch: details at the end of this segment.

Unique Property Bulletin has been helping many folk realise their unusual home dreams through this not-for-profit website since 2012, and before that, via our paper Bulletin since 1992. It has been a delight when we have finished publishing our small effort to help folk find their unique home to then switch off the computer and enjoy one of George Clarke‘s excellent television programmes. From Amazing Spaces to Old House, New Home + Ugly House To Lovely House.

So we are keen to reciprocate that enjoyment and help George’s researchers and producers in putting the word out to find folk that are just about to embark upon their journey to upcycle an old brownfield building and turn it into a unique home.

If you are a couple, family or individual who has not yet completed their project yet, but who are either just about to start work on a conversion, or have just made a start, please consider getting in touch:-

Contact: Amazing Productions: Click Here.

Telephone: Amazing Productions: 020 7819 0500.

Contact: Unique Property Bulletin Tel/Text: 0793 557 2803.

Contact: Unique Property Bulletin: Noss Head Lighthouse Station, Wick, KW1 4QT.

Also, if you know someone who has their unique plans passed by the local authority and are about to commence an unusual property project, please can you nudge them in our direction? We really want to help George Clarke succeed with his and his teams new project. Thank you.

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Unique Property Bulletin – Earlier Addition: 11th May 2019

London Brownfield Site Gets Red Hot New Home

Guide: £999,999.

Archway Studios, Dartford Street, London SE17 3UD

2 Bed Home AND Commercial Photography Studio: Approximately 1600 Square Feet.

Archway Studios. A Uniquely Planned Home In London.

We start this particular unique property listing with two simple doors. Hidden in plain sight. In London. Thousands of people walk past the first door every day. Very few notice it. Well millions do recognise it when Pierce Brosnan in his character of James Bond enters that door…

Secret Entrance From The 007 Movie Live & Let Die
Attribution: Eon Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer & 20th Century Fox

The first door is real enough and located just across from the Palace of Westminster, Queen Elizabeth Tower and Big Ben…

Thanks to the wonders of Google 3D interactive, you can even have a wander around this area: here.

This is our example and our point. An ordinary door can have an extraordinary life.

The 007 movie prop door as shown, above has a lot of clever editing to suspend your disbelief as so many good movies do. Behind it “appears” to be a Tardis-like expanse of rooms and sophisticated gadgets we associate with the 007 franchise. In real life the door above has a small, functional corridor with narrow stairs descending to the London Underground network maintenance divisions. All of the James Bond stuff is brilliant fiction.

Indeed there are many such amazing spaces hid from sight behind ordinary doors. One of our favourite is Gene Hackman’s Lair as Lex Luthor in the Superman franchise. That access door is via a labyrinthine trip underground through a subway maintenance panel. Leading to this wonderful interpretation of a secret subterranean space to live…

Superman Movie. Hidden Home. Brilliant Imagination.

Gene Hackman as Superman Nemesis Lex Luthor. In His Underground Home

Stills Attribution: International Film Productions; Dovemead Ltd; Warner Bros; Columbia-EMI

All of these doors to all of these amazing spaces are beloved fiction.

Whereas our second plain door, actually delivers the goods. Behind the mundane setting are wonderous delights. Just over 2 miles from the 007 door across from Big Ben and an 11 minute walk is our candidate property featured for sale. Our listing for this segment is in Dartford Street, London, SE17.

The anonymous-looking entrance door to our actual abode of wonderment is under a railway bridge. What is hidden from view? A cupboard? An old railway workshop? We reckon the goodies and baddies in the various film franchises that feature homes that are out of sight would delight in this London archway pad…

^^^ Archway Studios, Dartford Street, London SE17 3UD

Enough of waxing lyrical. Better to illustrate how the unique plans have been brought to life with photographs. An upcycled old railway arch has been transformed into something the crew here at Unique Property Bulletin absolutely love…

Archway Studios, Dartford Street, London SE17 3UD

The curves, the curves, the curves. Design bliss.

Archway Studios, Dartford Street, London SE17 3UD

There is an amazing amount of light flooding into the wide open spaces. Helped by a brilliant, but not overwhelming white paint decor. The work of a very talented architect.

Archway Studios, Dartford Street, London SE17 3UD

We now take a slight detour from our narrative of the Dartford Street railway arch property.

London prices combined with such scarcity of development sites lead many of our readers and friends to get the lateral thinking caps on and find a way to reside in the Capital by transforming all sorts of old industrial structures.

These are known as “brownfield sites”. Not necessarily fields, unless an industrial building has been razed to the ground. Brownfield sites can include old coastguard stations, defunct hospital buildings, former lighthouses, UKWMO nuclear bunkers, closed fire stations, London underground stations etc.

These can convert into miraculous homes. If the £999,999 for this finished archway conversion at Dartford Street is a little handsome for your budget, you might like to search for the basic ingredients? Below is a brownfield site – old arches – that our friend Sam saw in 2014. Guided 5 years ago at just £125,000 for 1/3 acre in London. A fabulous price. Add your own unique plans, plus a good architect and there is an amazing conversion in there somewhere. For sure, there are a LOT of arches in London. Just ask Flanagan and Allen!

Remember The Example Price For The Basic Arch Is From 2014.

At £125,000 For 1/3 Acre In London, Your Unique Plans Could Become A Magnificent Home

If you find, and especially if you buy a railway archway, Unique Property Bulletin would recommend you contact the award-winning designer of the Archway Studios.

Undercurrent Architects

Project Information & Contact Details

Click Here

Returning to the completed example currently for sale, please remember this is right in the middle of London. For mere mortals such as myself who live remotely in the far north, anywhere that features in the opening credits of Eastenders is central London!

Archway Studios, Dartford Street, London SE17 3UD: Location Map Courtesy of Google Inc.

The Archway Studios has two bedrooms. One is off of the main open-plan ground floor function room and the other at first-floor level.. However, one of our favourite parts is the second-floor study area. A sanctuary in the clouds. Plenty of natural daylight.

Archway Studios, Dartford Street, London SE17 3UD

Subtle design features, such as the way light floods through the stairway is something we adore.

Archway Studios, Dartford Street, London SE17 3UD

Heading upstairs to the study in the clouds.

Archway Studios, Dartford Street, London SE17 3UD

The award winning architects have been ingenious with this small patch of London real estate.

Archway Studios, Dartford Street, London SE17 3UD

In 25 years of Unique Property Bulletin we have almost a weekly email from someone who is struggling to find somewhere to live in London and looking for our help. The answer often requires a complex and sophisticated response as London is a tough place to find a place to live.

It is an enigma with London, that it can be one of worst of places to find a home – but can produce the best, most imaginative of lateral thought solutions in the entire country.

Sometimes we find a hidden gem for our readers.

We believe that today, this is one of those rare diamonds. Outside keeps the rough exterior of that unpolished object, but inside is a pure architectural crown jewel.

You can look at buying the fully finished item at a Richard Burton + Elizabeth Taylor price tag, or go mining for your own diamond: a raw site that you can develop with a unique plan of your own.

Ground Floor – Floorplan For Guidance. Please Do Not Scale

First & Second Floor – Floorplan For Guidance. Please Do Not Scale

Location Map Courtesy of Google Inc.

Guide: £999,999 Leasehold. Ground Rent £1 per annum for 850 Years.

For information and/or to arrange a viewing of the Archway Studios conversion in London, please contact:-

The Modern House Agency. Tel: 020 3795 5920.

Click Here

For The Estate Agency Particulars & Lots of Photographs.

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Unique Property Bulletin – Earlier Addition: 8th May 2019

West Sussex Windmill For Sale

Guide: £550,000

3 Bedrooms, 2 Receptions, 2 Bathrooms

The Windmill, Yapton Road, Barnham, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO22 0BD

Entrance Hall

Kitchen/Dining Room

Cloakroom

Utility/Storage Area

First Floor – 2 Double Bedrooms, Study and Bathroom

The Windmill – Sitting Room, first floor Master Bedroom, second floor Victorian Style Bathroom, Third floor Lookout with Mezzanine and far reaching views over the surrounding countryside.

Two allocated parking spaces and two wooden stores.

The Windmill, Yapton Road, Barnham, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO22 0BD

Lounge in the round. One of the amazing aspects of converting a building from its previous incarnation are the features that echo down the ages. This building has a thoroughbred history that is reflected in every room. Windmills are one of our favourite genres of conversion.

The Windmill, Yapton Road, Barnham, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO22 0BD

Earlier price guides. Maybe a wee bit of wriggle room on price. We would give £499,000 a go. The estate agent might cough and splutter, but when you see the level of stamp duty, your eyes will most likely water! (stamp duty calculator – click here and here). If this were 12 months time we might well have been bidding!

The Windmill, Yapton Road, Barnham, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO22 0BD

Contemporary kitchen meets the actual windmill base in the nearby lounge. Wall in red. With convex and concave facings gifting a major feature to this converted building.

The Windmill, Yapton Road, Barnham, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO22 0BD

The Windmill The impressive Sitting Room, which is approached from the Entrance Hall, has ceiling beams, a central pillar and a staircase to the First Floor Landing. The double aspect Master Bedroom features restored windmill machinery and eaves storage.

The Windmill, Yapton Road, Barnham, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO22 0BD

To the second floor there is a Victorian style Bathroom with rolltop bath with claw feet, mixer tap and shower attachment, tiled shower cubicle with mixed deluge head and separate hand held shower, wash stand with large wash hand basin and high level WC.

Ensuite Has Modern Comforts Probably Alien To The Original Windy Miller

Then we venture to the top, where a Lookout gives a fabulous view and room for contemplation.

The Windmill, Yapton Road, Barnham, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO22 0BD

Lookout on the third floor features an arched window, further restored windmill machinery, mood lighting and a wrought iron ladder to a Mezzanine which enjoys far reaching views over the surrounding countryside.

The Windmill, Yapton Road, Barnham, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO22 0BD

What an amazing space to rest and relax with a favourite novel to read. Or, if you are like us here at Unique Property Bulletin, we would be tapping the old computer keyboard, looking to get you and our other readers into mischief. At £550,000 this is a very reasonably priced building given the rarity of this style and the location. Please let us know how you get on. Remember, Unique Property Bulletin is NOT an estate agency. We have no skin in the game. Just a group of friends who own similar buildings such as this windmill, and for the past 25 years have enjoyed getting friends and readers into all manner of unusual building conversion enjoyment. If we can help, please email, text or phone: 0793 557 2803.

Floorplan For Guidance. Please Do Not Scale

Location Map Courtesy of Google Inc.

For information and/or to arrange a viewing of the Barnham Windmill conversion, please contact:-

Jackson-Stops Estate Agents. Tel: 01903 885886.

Click Here

For The Estate Agency Particulars Online.

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Regular Unique Property Updates…

Hot Picks & News Clips Every Few Days.

Welcome to our new internet version of the old paper format Unique Property Bulletin. We add unusual buildings for sale directly onto this front page every few days for you to consider. Also worth keeping an eye on the Facebook & Twitter pages. Plus our editor includes EXTRA unique properties and news to his Facebook timeline; so you may like to keep an eye on what features from that BIG box of Unique Properties: Click Here.

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Unique Property Bulletin – Earlier Addition: May 4th Be With You Day!

Lochmor at Noss Head Lighthouse Station. Photo from Russ McLean.

A heartfelt thank you to friends and family following recent accident. Apologies for the delay in Unique Property Bulletin and other projects. Your kind messages have been incredibly important during recovery. Now out of hospital. Will endeavour to answer all of these, and also many emails in the backlog. Very best wishes, Russ.

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Here are the new offices that Unique Property Bulletin are in the process of buying. From this place we aim to help define how telecommuting can work. To illustrate how you can buy your style of unusual home and work from there. Crucially how you can recover a quality of life that has possibly been missing of late…

Unique Property Bulletin Headquarters. Noss Head Lighthouse Station.

Photo Courtesy: Mr Derek Bremner.

So that you don’t miss any unusual buildings for sale, please consider subscribing to our regular updates…

We would love to get you into mischief and your next home might just, magically appear on these pages.

For more information about the background to Unique Property Bulletin and how it can help you, please…

News17

Earlier Listings…..

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We Have Some Cliff

We are looking to build a cliff house…

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Unique Plans

TEXT: 0793 557 2803

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At Last: the new television series we have been waiting for:

George Clarke & Unique Plans

Please can our readers help?

Unique Plans

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INDEX

Original ISSN: 1460-5716

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