Hobbit-size home lists for $307K in UK

Historic gatehouse in North Yorkshire measures 408 square feet.

The Grimston Park estate in Tadcaster (Carter Jonas)
The Grimston Park estate in Tadcaster (Carter Jonas)

The limestone house sits at the front of a 1,000-year-old country estate once visited by James I. French doors open onto a sunken garden. It’s listed for the equivalent of just $307,000.

The catch: The North Yorkshire gatehouse at the historic Grimston Park estate in Tadcaster measures a total of 408 square feet, according to The Spaces. It’s considered the smallest detached house in Britain.

While it may seem the right size for a hobbit, it’s home to Debra Bowman, 60, and her 61-year-old husband Dave. They bought the house in early 2000 and are separating and selling for their personal retirements.

Moving there was “one of the best decisions I ever made,” Debra Bowman told The Daily Mail. “It also takes only 30 minutes to clean and who could complain with that!”

The tiny home topped with a statue of a kneeling king sits at the mouth of a 600-acre estate with a Georgian mansion converted into 13 luxury residences. The surrounding woodlands were retained by the estate’s family owners.

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Grimston Park dates to 1086 and hosted monarchs James I and Queen Anne of Denmark on the way to accept the throne of England. It was also used by the Royal Air Force during World War II.

The home has an above-ground bedroom with a spiral staircase winding into a below-ground living space. The 241 square-foot basement includes a kitchen, bathroom with freestanding tub, and a living room topped by a glass ceiling that opens up onto a sunken patio garden. A sister gatehouse sold in 2020 for £250,000.

The miniature houses join a global trend toward tiny homes, from main residences to housing for the homeless. In Santa Cruz, California, a 328-square-foot cottage sold in November for $1 million. In December, Singapore-based Nestron unveiled a 377-square-foot prefabricated home starting at $98,000. On the West Coast, tiny villages to house homeless people have mushroomed from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

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[The Spaces, Daily Mail] – Dana Bartholomew