The bizarre and the beautiful: Britain's most unusual homes of 2017

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Britain is known for being a land of eccentrics, and an Englishman's home is his castle, as the saying goes, so it's no wonder that there is an array of extraordinary property throughout the country.

From quirky self-made palaces built by bedroom craftsmen, to real deal historic stately piles, we've rounded up the most unusual homes available to buy or rent in 2017.

The properties span the island, ranging from isolated, self-sufficient islands in remotest Scotland, to majestically derelict homes in the heart of London.

Grand castles at great value (compared to London house prices, anyway)

Rothes Glen House went on sale for £1.1million, the price of a one-bedroom flat in Notting Hill.

By contrast, it includes 11 bedrooms, eight reception rooms featuring Italian mosaic tiled floors and stained-glass domes, and even a four-storey tower, complete with battlements and turrets, all set in nine acres of grounds in Banffshire, Scotland.

A 70-room Staffordshire castle, parts of which date back to the 13th century also hit the market following a recent modernising restoration. It still has a dungeon, though.

Caverswall Castle is one of the oldest inhabited castles in Britain

Quirky conversions

Proof that pretty much any building is ripe for conversion into a home is the array of unlikely spaces that have turned residential.

A former police station in Derbyshire; a Victorian water tower in Lincolnshire; several converted churches and even a graveyard have all had a brush with the developers. A Nissen hut in Norfolk is ripe for renovation as is a could-be cute mews property, billed as "the most derelict house in central London".

And that's not to mention the supremely quirky things that can be done with an ordinary bungalow.

A Venetian-inspired 'castle' near Staines was converted from a bungalow by the owner, who added his own 'ruined abbey' in the garden, while two Victorian train carriages form the backbone of an outwardly ordinary bungalow in Pagham, near Bognor Regis, West Sussex, a village famous for its homes converted from carriages after the First World War.

Train enthusiasts are also catered for at the Welsh country house with its own train platform.

Two Midland Railway passenger carriages are concealed in a bungalow in Pagham
Farndell

Modern design

Art Deco remains beloved almost a century after it was first in fashion so its little wonder that particularly well-preserved examples attract a lot of attention.

A pink country mansion in Essex built by the Crittall windows magnate went on sale with many of its original features still in tact, while there was more than a shade of the Great Gatsby in Sandcastle House overlooking the sea in East Sussex.

And while its new owner may need to give it an update, a classic inter-war suburban semi in Enfield presents an intriguing time capsule, virtually untouched since the late 1950s.

In Surrey, a cul-de-sac of housing brings some anthropomorphic charm to Sixties Brutalism with 32 'Elephant Houses', which boast central 'trunks' and hulking grey brick 'bodies'.

Off radar

For misanthropic or supremely stressed-out Londoners, a desert island could be a good swap for city living.

The Holms of Stromness off Orkney is not one but two islands covering 12 acres, that are entirely self-sufficient thanks to wind turbine-generated electricity, although you’re going to have to row yourself to the shops unless the tide is low.

Or, for the truly spooky, the remote island of Little Ross was home to a brutal murder — not for the faint-hearted.

The self-sufficient island of Little Ross

Cute and cosy

Yes, 'cosy' is often used as an estate agent's euphemism for 'depressingly poky' or even 'I can flush the toilet from my bed' but in some instances, small is beautiful.

An eight-foot wide former shop in Clerkenwell has been given a cool interior makeover which squeezes in two wetrooms along with its two bedrooms.

And holiday makers in Cornwall delight in the real life dollshouse built across a former alleyway overlooking the harbour in the village of Porthleven.