What do you live in? A house? A flat? A bungalow? Chances are you live in one of these popular choices of residence, but have you ever dreamed of living in something a bit different?
How about lording it up in a castle, chilling out on a narrowboat, or even holing up in a Martello Tower?
You don’t have to restrict your property search to houses, flats and bungalows and so, with that in mind, here are three alternative housing ideas.
Own your own castle
An Englishman’s home is his castle, so the saying goes. This saying is especially true if you live in an actual castle.
You don’t have to be royalty or stinking rich to own a castle – a castle is surprisingly affordable.
Of course, ‘affordable’ is relative, but if you’re used to London house prices, you’ll be surprised to find that you can buy an entire castle in some parts of the UK for the price of a small terraced house (admittedly in one of the more affluent areas of London).
So, if you fancy lording it over your manor, pretending you’re a princess, or living as a recluse in a castle complete with ballistic glass and doors in case of invasion, there’s a castle for you out there somewhere.
Living on a narrowboat
With the ever-increasing price of houses, it’s no wonder people look for cheaper alternatives to the usual bricks and mortar homes and start wondering what river living would be like.
Although a narrowboat might be cheaper initially, don’t let the purchase price lead you into believing that’s all a narrowboat’s going to cost you.
Along with the maintenance costs, permanent mooring can be expensive (especially in London). To save on mooring costs, you can opt to ‘continuously cruise’, which means you have to move on every 14 days, but continuously cruising can make it difficult to receive post.
If you do fancy living on a narrowboat, you won’t be alone. There are over 35,000 people in the UK with a boat licence for rivers and canals, with surveys putting the ‘liveaboard’ population at around 25%.
Be warned though – it’s not all sitting on deck in the sun sipping a cold beer – living on a narrowboat involves hard physical work and living in a cramped space with next to no storage.
Residential Martello towers
If you currently live inland, you might not know what a Martello tower is. Those of you along the south coast of England, however, will be all too familiar with them.
Martello towers were built between 1804 and 1812 to defend the south and east coast of England against a possible invasion from France.
There were originally 103 Martello towers built along the English coast, with 47 remaining. Some of the remaining Martello towers have been opened to the public, some have been left to become derelict but some have been made into unusual residential homes, such as this residential Martello tower in Dymchurch.
Alternative housing ideas
These are just three alternative housing ideas if you fancy living in something that’s a bit out of the ordinary. Which one appeals to you the most?
