Bizarre UK ‘House in the Clouds’ turns 100 years old
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100 years ago, the village of Thorpeness in Suffolk unveiled their new-look water tower which had been specially designed to be in keeping with the village's rustic aesthetic.
Anyone who's seen Hot Fuzz knows what happens to places which stick out like a sore thumb in villages that want to keep a certain look, so it's a good thing this 'House in the Clouds' looks so lovely.
The building is now celebrating turning 100 years old and it looks as good as ever.
The water tower was built in 1923 to receive water from a nearby windmill but the village had a particular mock-Tudor aesthetic that locals were keen to preserve.
Not wanting to have an ugly water tower sticking towering above the village, Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie plumped for 'a fantasy water tower in a fantasy village'.
There were bedrooms to stay in the house beneath the water tower and the impressive building was originally called 'The Gazebo' before children's author Malcolm Mason dubbed it the 'House in the Clouds'.
100 years ago when it was first opened the tower could hold 50,000 gallons of water, but the House in the Clouds was damaged by anti-aircraft fire during the Second World War and was fixed with steel that was already part of the structure, reducing capacity to 30,000 gallons.
The water tower ended up becoming redundant in 1977 when the village received access to a mains water supply and two years later the water tank at the top was removed so the whole place could be converted into housing.
Since 1995 it's been a Grade II listed building so the House in the Clouds will be protected from losing its distinctive character, and a cottage 70ft in the air is certainly distinctive.
For those interested in staying in the House in the Clouds, it's actually available for holiday bookings and there's plenty of room to bring lots of friends along for the experience.
The house has a total of five bedrooms and there's also a sofa bed if you need the extra sleeping space, while three bathrooms should be enough to dodge the morning arguments about who gets to brush their teeth next.
There's also a games room, drawing room, dining room, kitchen and a viewing platform so you can stand among the clouds (not quite) and get a lovely look at the surrounding area.
However, looking at the number of days they've already got booked up over the next few months it seems like a pretty popular place.
I suppose this is one of the times where the phrase 'book early to avoid disappointment' comes to mind.
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