Moving to England, and looking for a quirky apartment to call home? An inexpensive studio flat inside a charming stone gatehouse in Birmingham is currently up for rent, The Daily Mail reports. The only catch? It’s in a cemetery.
The studio apartment is located on the grounds of Witton Cemetery, one of Britain’s largest graveyards. It opened in 1863, but its plots filled up in 2013, and the site is now closed for burials. The cemetery’s Gothic-style gatehouse building was converted into living facilities, and today, its rooms and apartments (including this one) are rented out to public residents.
Presumably because of its location, the apartment’s monthly rent is pretty low, at least by British standards: £520 per month, or $650. This sticker price includes local government taxes and utility bills; no security deposit is required, though there is an “administration fee” of £175 ($218). The residence includes an en-suite bathroom and a kitchenette, and it comes fully furnished with a bed, chest of drawers, fridge, microwave, and a kettle. As for the flat’s location, it’s close to Villa Park, a large city soccer stadium, and only a few miles from Birmingham’s city center.
If you’re intrigued—but a bit spooked—by Witton Cemetery’s flat, keep in mind that cemeteries aren’t always just for the dead. In some crowded cities, they’re a cheap and practical place for the living to establish communities. Other people live in cemeteries for religious reasons, like the Aghori ascetics of India. And for some, living in a graveyard is simply part of their job: Ken Taylor, who serves as vice president of operations for Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, calls the burial ground his home.
The Birmingham graveyard flat is currently listed on retailer site Zoopla. Learn more details there, or check out some pictures of the apartment below.
All images courtesy of Zoopla.
[h/t The Daily Mail]
November 29, 2016 – 6:30pm