A man has ensured that his home stands out from the rest by building himself a large, eye-catching castle. The lavish property looks like something that you would see in a historical movie, complete with large walls and turrets.
Beaubush Castle, pronounced Bewbush, is home to Wojciech Szajna, who planned and built much of the home himself. The dad lives there with his partner Beata and his two sons, aged 11 and 21, Hull Live reports.
After initially building around the five-bedroom cottage, it was later demolished and the eight-bedroom castle has gradually sprung up its place becoming the first residence you see when you enter Crawley, West Sussex.
Wojciech's Polish heritage is on display at the castle, with lions bearing Polish symbols, as well as the Polish Eagle donning the exterior walls, while a Union Jack flies high above the residence's roof to highlight his new homeland.
The family bought the cottage in December 2010 and, in the 12 years since, Wojciech, 57, has had his work cut out as he seeks to achieve his huge goal - though he believes the project is still two years from completion.
Wojciech has lived in the UK for the past 18 years. Him, his wife and kids relocated to the UK having spent some time in Dordogne, France, where Wojciech repaired castles and stonewalls - he gave an insight into the work that has gone into his new Crawley home.
"It was quite hard to get permission and I amended the plan a couple of times. It’s all my plan in my head, I must call for architects telling them what I want to do and they charge me loads of money because it's all handmade and expensive," joked Wojciech.
Wojciech spent a considerable amount on time and money ensuring it looked genuine and not just like any other house in the area: "If all the brickwork is straight and square it doesn’t look good. I made the brickwork more curved for more effect and an authentic castle feel otherwise it would look just like any other house," he said.
Living in a castle would be a childhood dream for many youngsters, and this is no exception for Wojciech's kids. But, when asked what his wife thought when he originally told her that he intended to turn their cottage into a castle, Wojciech said: "Seriously - she was not happy with me, now she is happy though.
"In general, about 80 per cent of opinion is good, maybe 20 or 15 per cent is bad. A couple of years ago the house appeared on Facebook and maybe 10 per cent was negative and people said "That is no feat to Crawley," or "It's better how it was before," but negative attention is normal, and not avoidable."
Wojciech said that "everything is expensive" having spent much more than £1m to build. Among the costly features are a large boundary wall, a tower, the battlements and ramparts - though these are more for show, the large walls of the castle itself and a clock face and decorative lions which came from Poland.
In future, Wojciech hopes to add an impressive gate to the boundary wall, likely containing some more Polish references, whilst also looking to improve the outer grounds of the house with improved parking and a potential swimming pool. A modern looking annex used for storage sits in the garden of the property, with Wojciech hoping to expand his castle further to connect this to the rest of the property for a more consistent feel.
"I have no more plans to build any more castles, not at my age. But I will have to talk with the council about making it all look the same, to make it the same complex - at the moment it is Beaubush Castle, and that is Beaubush Cottage annex."
Whilst the inside of the house has a more modern feel to it, there is still plenty that makes it special as Wojciech is a keen collector of antiques and, once the time is right, will use them to decorate his property for a proper medieval touch. Some have already made their way inside too, with a suit of armour sitting in the upstairs of his house, whilst other ornaments sit atop mantelpieces and old tables to keep the medieval vibe alive and well.
Wojciech has admitted that he is very happy with his castle which sits beside the new Kilnwood Vale development: "I'm very pleased with it. But when I bought the house I had a nice countryside view. But now I’m in a valley and all these houses have been built around me and all this ground has been built about 20 metres up."
However, Wojciech did find time to joke about the new properties at Kilnwood Vale which have a view of his keep: "I'm sure the developer is happy. These houses are probably more expensive as they have a view of a castle, they must be the most expensive houses in estate.
"Also, my castle lets you know you’re in Crawley now. It's the last house that's officially in Crawley as any further up and you’re in Faygate."
Up next for Wojciech include some interior changes to the flooring whilst also hoping to complete the roof of the property. Outside landscaping and a potential pool are two things Wojciech also suggested, who knows what's next for Crawley's modern piece of history.
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