Inside UK's tallest gothic tower in the world on sale as family home for £2.78m

This 175ft-tall tower is being sold as a family home for £2.78m. The Grade I-listed, 18th-century Hadlow Tower - or ‘May’s Folly’ as locals call it - is the tallest gothic folly in the world and boasts four bedrooms over five floors.

The tower, which underwent a £4.2m restoration in 2013, is 6ft taller than Nelson's Column and surrounded by private gardens, woodlands and even a picturesque lake. It also boasts a parapet with stunning 360-degree views of quaint Hadlow village in Tonbridge, Kent.

However, despite appearing to have come straight from the pages of a fantasy novel, the historic tower has all the features of a modern family home. Once part of a Romantic Gothic style 18th-century castle, the tower is accessed through a triple-arched entrance on the village high street.

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A winding private road leads to the spectacular tower, a parking area and an impressive walled courtyard. Ancillary buildings have been converted into six private dwellings, the owners of which, together with the tenant of the tower, maintain communal grounds of sweeping lawns, trees and a lake encircled by colourful shrubs.

The octagonal tower boasts three entrances. The main, double-height arched front door leads to a lobby with an original brick floor, a reception hall with terracotta flooring, and a lift to the first four floors. There is also a utility room, a cloakroom, a boiler room, a boot cupboard, a pair of original oak external doors, and access to the main circular staircase and an outer circular stone staircase.

The first floor features an octagonal dining room, a unique arched recess, and sculptured oak doors from the original castle. It leads into a small corridor with the main staircase and doors leading to a triple-aspect kitchen/breakfast room with stained glass windows also taken from the original castle.

One floor up, gothic casement windows peer in on the exposed beams and brick arched fireplace of the drawing room, with steps down to a double bedroom and en-suite. The main stone staircase leads up to another double bedroom, whilst oak steps lead to the principal suite with exposed beams, storage facilities and a contemporary ensuite.

On the fourth floor, a final double bedroom boasts an octagonal dressing room with a walk-in wardrobe, oak stairs leading to a bathroom, and a door to the castellated roof terrace, which offers stunning countryside views. The floor above includes a handy study area, whilst external access leads to the external castellated parapet.

Local lore has it that the tower's origins relate to its previous owner, Walter Barton May, and his penchant for spying on his estranged wife and her new partner. When May's wife ran off with a local farmer, he had the tower built alongside the family castle - built by his father - to keep tabs on his wife and her new lover.

However, unsatisfied with the tower's height, May later added a 40-foot 'lantern' at the top. The tower was badly damaged in the Great Storm of 1987, and the lantern was later removed in 1996.

Having fallen into disrepair, the tower underwent a £4.2 million restoration in 2013 with the help of grants from English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund. Its impressive restoration won multiple Historic England Angel Awards and the Lloyd-Webber Angel Award. An exact replica of the original lantern that was destroyed during the 1987 storm was added in 2011.

The tower's current owner explained that though he and his family had been privileged to live at Hadlow Tower for the past few years, his work was taking him abroad, meaning he'd have to part ways with the home. He said: "My family and I have thoroughly enjoyed our time here, including the peaceful and tranquil environment.

"Although where we are is private and peaceful, Hadlow high street is at the end of the lane. This charming village is in a Conservation area and includes many attractive period properties and a variety of shops, pubs, hairdressers, a restaurant, a church, a library and a medical centre.

"For the more energetic, there are cricket and bowls clubs as well as a good primary school and the renowned Hadlow College of Agriculture and Horticulture, which includes the Broadview Gardens complex that has a tearoom and florist and where you can enjoy wandering around the grounds.

"Other facilities are available in nearby Tonbridge," he said. "Including excellent grammar and private schools, independent shops and high street stores, pubs, restaurants, a theatre and the station, where trains to London take around 30 to 40 minutes.

"There is also the Tonbridge School leisure club, while for golfing enthusiasts there are numerous golf clubs and courses within a radius of nine miles around Hadlow, including the local Poult Wood Public Golf Centre."