Modern mansion hides a secret you'd never guess

It's not unusual for parking or a garage to feature on a house-buyer's wish list.

But one £3.25 million house in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, goes rather further. The huge, Georgian-style Manor House boasts a very unusual feature: an underground car showroom with room for 25 cars.

"I have quite a sizable classic car collection and so I had a fantastic underground car showroom built," says the current owner Paul, who had the house built in 2010. "It has a scissor lift to take the cars up and down, and the whole thing is extremely secure."

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The basement measures a massive 4,200 square feet - way bigger than most houses. It has electric Silvo doors as well as the four-ton vehicle lift and a staircase.

The rest of the house is built on an equally grand scale. A huge staircase sweeps up from the hall to a galleried landing above. There are three large reception rooms as well as a banqueting dining room and even a full-sized snooker room.

A large kitchen has French windows out to a terrace overlooking the garden. Upstairs, there are seven bedrooms, and there's also a home office/apartment with independent access.

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High-tech features include an intruder alarm with video surveillance, centralised Panasonic multi-room telephone system, Beam centralised vacuum system, zoned and individually controlled underfloor heating, along with Sky HD distribution and pre-wiring for a Bang & Olufsen sound system.

"When designing the house we knew that we wanted it to be on a grand scale, so all of the rooms are generously proportioned with nice high ceilings and large windows," says Paul.

"And as we built it for ourselves we have also made sure that all the fixtures and fittings are of the highest quality and that there is great attention to detail throughout."

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Outside the house, there's 'ample parking', say the agents - and with nearly an acre of grounds, there's plenty of room for another car park if required.

Agents Fine & Country concede that the underground car showroom might not be to everybody's taste - and suggested that it could be converted into a spa suite instead.