World's narrowest house up for sale: would you pay £85,000 for it?

The Wedge in Millport (on the Isle of Cumbrae in Scotland) holds the world record as being the house with the narrowest frontage in the world. It measures just 47 inches across, which means it is only just wide enough for a slimline front door and a window in the bedroom above. It has just gone on the market for £85,000.

Its current owner, Peter McBride, told the Daily Mail that it's far more spacious than it looks from the front, because as you move through the house it gets wider at the back - which is why it has been called the Wedge. In fact, there's room for a bedroom, bathroom, lounge, kitchen area, and even a bit of a hallway at the back.

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Narrow homes

Homes may not be any narrower at the front than the Wedge, but in the competition for quirky narrow homes - it has some serious competition. In January this year we reported on the one-storey property wedged between two homes in West London, which is just 8 feet wide (in fact the shed in the garden is wider). Because this home is in desirable Twickenham, you can expect to pay £300,000 to live there.

Earlier the same month, we reported on the house in Hackney, East London, which was on sale for £350,000 and was only seven feet wide. In its favour, this house had a second storey and 800 square feet of space. However, the owner was having some difficulty getting the asking price.

Houses do come even narrower though. A terraced house in the Hollingdean area of Brighton is just 6 feet wide - all the way from the front to the back. The owners rent it out, and say that they have lots of demand from people who want a garden, and don't want to share with other people.

But perhaps the hands-down winner of the quirkiest skinny house is Thimble Hall in Youlgrave in Derbyshire, which holds the record for being the smallest detached house in the country. The whole house measures just 11 feet 10 inches by 10 feet 3 inches - and it's only 12 feet 2 inches tall.

Shrinking property

Unfortunately you don't need to choose something as quirky as The Wedge or Thimble Hall to have to learn to live on a smaller scale. Anyone living in a new build it likely to be living a narrower existence than earlier generation - in fact new builds are almost half the size of brand new properties in the 1920s - at 925 square feet and three bedrooms. The average new terraced home, meanwhile, is just 645 square feet.

The Institute of Economic Affairs found that the UK has the smallest homes in Europe, averaging just 66 square metres, compared with 115 square metres in Denmark and 110 square metres in Italy.

If we're all having to live with being squeezed, you may as well go for something distinctive and original, with an incredible view of the sea - and with a price tag of £85,000 The Wedge has to be tempting.

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