Truth behind house in the middle of the M62 motorway where family still lives
Yeah sure, Buckingham Palace is a pretty famous gaff in the UK. As is the case of the Beckhams’ barn or all the other royal properties - and even Stacey Solomon’s ‘Pickle Cottage’.
But there’s also a house that’s long been famous for its rather bizarre location.
Obviously, I’m on about that house sitting right in the middle of the M62.
Over the years, all sorts of urban legends have started up about who actually lives there and why they live slap-bang in the centre of a busy motorway.
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And the original lodger, farmer Ken Wild previously revealed the truth about the home where a family still lives.
The infamous house sits between the two streams of motorway tragic, near Huddersfield.
Many believed the house's owner had simply just refused to sell the property when plans for the six-lane carriage way were first approved back in the 1960s, leading to the assumption that developers opted to just build around the problem - quite literally.
But actually, the reality is that the motorway could have never been built on the farm in the first place - regardless of any reported civilian uprising against it.
A documentary by the British Film Institute (BFI), filmed nearly two decades after the motorway was finished back in 1983, revealed: "A geological fault beneath the farmhouse meant it was more practical for engineers to leave it rather than blast through and destroy it."
Journalist Michael Clegg continued to explain: "Outside, the noise is relentless but inside it's as peaceful and cosy as any farmhouse."
Ken and his wife Beth first moved into the famed farmhouse in 1934 and, while they insisted the motorway wasn't too much of a disturbance, added that the dust from the pollution did make cleaning a bit of a slog.
After Ken passed away, Stott Hall Farm was taken over by couple Jill Falkingham and Paul Thorp, joined by their son John-William.
While they also add that the noise is rather relentless, another issue is that their sheep sometimes jump over the fence onto the motorway.
Paul said: “I can’t tell you the number of times it’s happened. My phone will go at 2.00am and it’s somebody from the highways agency.
“‘There’s a sheep on the loose on the motorway — can you go get it?’”
The couple were previously featured on the Channel 4 documentary, The Pennines: The Backbone of Britain last year.
Paul said: “It’s just like any other farm really. You’ve got to know your land, know your job and plan around it. The only thing is, we’ve got six lanes of traffic through ours. It throws up its challenges, it’s very unique.”
That’s definitely one way of putting it.
Jess Battison