Buying a water tower and converting it into a home sounds like folly. Which is why you should buy one that’s been completed by someone else.
One of the great joys of Grand Designs is watching people look at random things strewn around the countryside and decide that, yes, in fact, I could turn that into a home, at great personal cost. Just this season, we’ve had a couple look at a coastguard station and go: ‘that would make a great house’. On Wednesday, a couple looked at a water tower, which is a giant structure used to hold water, and saw, instead, a potential home.
Where you see water, other people see a home. Think about that.
To be fair to Tassy and Adam, they are not the first people to try and convert a water tower into a home. Who can forget the glorious Kennington example from Episode 100? As you might have surmised by now, however, renovating a water tower is not exactly easy. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone had done it for you, and you could just move in?
The entrance hall. Love the exposed brick.
Good news. You could buy this finished example in Devon right now, through Knight Frank, for £1.4 million. No stress. No builders. No Kevin sniffing around your wardrobes. Just move in right now. Job done.
Would you like to have a bath while enjoying some beautiful scenery?
Looking around the aptly named Water Tower, you do start to understand why people are so drawn to water towers in general and want to live in them. 360º living and views. Pretty much guaranteed no leaks.
Would you like to have a bath while enjoying the scenery, but in a different bathroom?
This specimen offers five bedrooms and three bathrooms over its three floors. On the ground floor, a spacious entrance hall, two bedrooms and a study. First floor, an enormous principal bedroom, two more bedrooms. Top floor. Well, well well. Let the pictures do the talking.
The top floor. Setting for the iconic Dr Strangeglove scene, or glorious living space?
Yes, you guessed it, an entire floor dedicated as a kitchen/dining/sitting room. Imagine the parties. Maybe I should buy a water tower and renovate it. No, stop it. Remember Tassy and Adam.
The principal bedroom. With more views.
The property also features a garage on its plot, and is achingly close to the coast, so much so that you can see it from the top floor. The historic fishing village of Clovelly, with its range of amenities, is only two miles away, and the area is famed for its cliff-top walks. A real haven in North Devon. And you don’t have to renovate it yourself.
Credit: Knight Frank/Savills
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