Cave cottage is sold for £100k

Rock Cottage, in Sladd Lane, Wolverley, near Kidderminster, was sold for four times its guide price at a packed auction at the Gainsborough House Hotel, in Bewdley Hill, Kidderminster, last night.

The sale of the one-bedroomed cave, which is complete with fireplaces, a pantry and sitting room, attracted a frenzy of bidding with people travelling from as far away as Spain to try and snap up the unique property.

The cave, which was sold with three adjoining caves and nearly five acres of garden and mixed woodland, was auctioned off following the death of the previous owner. The new owner Linda Hill, aged 42, from Kidderminster, said she intended to leave the caves exactly as they were. "My father has lived next door to the caves for more than 50 years and I grew up living next to them," she said.

"The previous owner of the property, Mrs Wilcox, had had the caves in her family for generations and wanted them to be looked after, which is all I intend to do.

"They need some maintenance work done because there are some problems with tree roots coming through the ceiling, but other than that the plans are to just leave them alone.

"They're very special to my family and I want to make sure they're preserved for future generations." Ms Hill also revealed that, despite living next to the caves for years, she had never actually been into them.

Also in attendance at the auction was a relative of the last person to live in the cave in the late 1940s.

Andrew Keen, from Kidderminster, said his great-grandmother, Margaret Thompson, lived in Rock Cottage until her death in 1948 and that his grandfather, Bill Thompson, grew up there.

"I think my great-grandmother would have been amazed at the amount of money they've been sold for," he said.

Roger Sadler, head auctioneer and senior director at Halls estate agents, said it was one of the "most unusual" lots he had ever had to auction.

The lot was expected to fetch £55,000 to £60,000.