Rock house going up for auction

It would make an ideal home for Fred Flintstone - but a quirky and historic house carved out of rock in the grounds of a Midland farm is attracting plenty of interest from more conventional customers.

The house, carved out of sandstone and screened by trees, is being marketed as an ideal rural retreat. It is to be sold at public auction with a guide price of £30,000 although the new owners will have to shell out for new doors and windows, unless they are real fresh air fiends.

The house at Easthams Farm, in Low Habberley, near Kidderminster, dates back more than 100 years and was last lived in in 1962.

A living room, pantry, two bedrooms and an extra room still exist and there are also the remains of a fireplace.

But the house is now dilapidated and needs restoration.

The public auction will be held on June 24 at the Hundred House Hotel, in Great Witley, starting at 6pm.

Although the rock house is thought to be unique in Kidderminster, a number of similar houses exist in nearby Kinver.

The rock house and nearby Easthams farmhouse was bought in 1948 by Annie and Jack Jones. At the time a couple and their two children were living in the house and were followed by another couple a few years later. Like the houses in nearby Kinver, the house was disused from the early 60s and no longer met housing standards.

Annie and Jack's second son, Ronald, who is now selling the house said although the rock houses in Kinver were better known, they were inferior in quality.

"Some houses of this kind are essentially caves with fronts put on," he said. "However the one here is a proper job. The rock was tunnelled into properly, to create all the rooms. It is an awesome sight."

The Kinver houses were taken over by National Trust more than a decade ago and transformed into a tourist attraction.

But the house at Low Habberley is being made available as a residence. Land adjoining Honey Brook is included in the sale.