Unassuming terraced house hides incredible secret cave

From the outside, it looks like any other brick-built mid-terrace house. Walk through the front door, though, and you're in for a surprise.

Number 30 Railway Street in Bridgnorth, Shropshire is hiding a secret - a 28-foot by 22-foot cave.

The house, up for sale for £200,000 with agent Nock Deighton, backs onto a steep hill that once contained a small natural cave. But in the 1980s, it was bought by artist Antony Dracup - who, like many homeowners, decided on an extension.

The result was this impressive vaulted cave, complete with 24 gothic pillars made from recycled sand from the excavation. At around 650 square feet, it doubles the size of the original house.

"Dracups Cottage is a simply unique home that must be seen to be believed," say the agents.

Apart from the cave, the rest of the cottage's interior is fairly conventional in layout, with a reception room, kitchen area, dining room and bathroom on the ground floor, and two bedrooms upstairs. There's also an attic room on the top floor.

But the decor is theatrical throughout the house, with a number of murals and carvings on the walls and elaborate plaster ceilings.

Leading off the landing is a steeply-terraced roof garden with spiral stairs rising up to a landscaped garden above the cave with spectacular local views.

%VIRTUAL-ArticleSidebar-property-guide%"Lots of houses in Bridgnorth have caves at the back but I've not seen a house like this before - it is truly remarkable the length some people will go to," Andrew Ainge, sales manager at Nock Deighton, tells the Western Daily Press.

"I think it will appeal to people who like to have a bit of character in their home. If you want to host dinner parties and entertain people it is perfect."

While the house is unusual, it's by no means unique. A few months ago, for example, we reported on a Worcestershire cave house that was featured on Grand Designs.

And they're positively common in some areas of Europe: property website Rusticom, for example, currently has several in Andalucia on its books, with prices from just €28,000.