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Grade II-listed folly tower that's almost two centuries old on sale for £425k in Ross-on-Wye

A 190-year-old tower with sweeping views over the local countryside is up for sale in Herefordshire for £425,000.

With its pinkish sandstone bricks and mock crenellations, Gazebo Tower in Ross-on-Wye looks like a tower from a storybook. Stone steps lead up to a Medieval-style front door, which opens into ground floor kitchen of the circular tower.

A curving staircase that hugs the perimeter leads up to the first-floor living room and second-floor bedroom — complete with sunken bathtub.

The bedroom includes a spiral staircase and sunken bathroom (Savills)

The spiral staircase in the bedroom leads up to the roof terrace and the views over the landscape.

In total the one-bedroom turret home offers 886 square feet of floor space over four storeys.

Gazebo Tower was built in 1833 as part of the mock Gothic walls around the town of Ross-on-Wye.

These medieval-style walls were added as part of a drive to beautify the town undertaken in the Victorian era.

The tower was built as a folly on the town's faux-medieval walls (Savills)

Despite looking like a miniature castle, Gazebo Tower was never part of any fortification system. Instead it was used as viewpoint for locals and visitors, offering panoramic views of the town and the River Wye.

Follies were popular ornamental architectural flourishes meant for ornamentation rather than practical use, although there are reports that it was used as an armory by local volunteers during the war.The tower was given to the local council in the 1950s and used as a space to hold arts and crafts exhibitions.

The pink sandstone tower is topped by mock crennellations (Savills)

It was sold off as an empty shell by Herefordshire Council in 2001 and bought for £40,000, reported the Hereford Times.

Tony and Pam Billingham submitted their after by post after watching a feature on the tower on the BBC.

The couple used the tower as a picnic spot with a view for years, climbing up a ladder to reach the roof.

In 2007 they undertook a year-long project to restore the tower and covert it into a one-bedroom holiday home.

The roof terrace has panoramic views of the town and countryside (Savills)

Now the tower home is on the market again, although submitting one's offer by post may seem quaint two decades later.

Gazebo Tower is one of several unusual historic conversions to come on the market in recent months.

A First World War-era watchtower on Tyneside that was converted into a three-bedroom home is on the market for £500,000, while a 160-year-old gun tower in Kent sold at auction for £159,000.

Those looking for a tower that's ripe for conversion could check out the Perry Water Tower, which is going up for auction with a guide price of £350,000.

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