Do you love to hear a good ghost story on cold, dark nights when the power is out and the house is silent? If the answer is ‘yes’, then you’ve come to the right place! This week we’re going to delve into the mysterious realms of the other side and learn about some of the UK’s most haunted properties! Many of these are based in the very heart of the country, the West Midlands, but look out for future terrifying tales from around the country.

Have you ever heard the tale of the Grey Lady of Bosworth Hall? Bosworth Hall, Leicestershire, was home to a poor young woman who fell in love with the gardener. He would visit her every night, but when her devious father discovered their nighttime trysts, he couldn’t accept it! Setting dangerous traps in the garden for his next visit, the Lady Grey ended up trapped instead. Dragging herself back to her room, she bled to death, doomed to forever walk the house and grounds of Bosworth Hall…

The famous Dudley castle is also a renowned haunted building in the West Midlands, home to a ghost couple said to haunt the ruins late at night. Every year a ghost tour is organised for those daring enough to try and spot the eerie revenants around the West Midlands at various spooky locations. According to staff who have to do late checks around the zoo, hurried footsteps can be heard along the corridors and unusual sounds in the dead of night….

John Wentworth of the White Swan Pub, Birmingham apparently went mad with grief when his love fell victim to a terrible coach crash. After shooting his loyal dog, he turned the gun on himself and is said to still haunt the building now,  heard moving around the building and known to tap people on the shoulder.

These are just a few of the haunted properties to be found in the historic West Midlands

A couple of weeks ago on the adflyer property blog, we looked at the most weird and wonderful place names the UK has to offer.  But, with us Brits barely dragging ourselves out of recession, and the property market becoming increasingly unstable, it’s not just the names of cities and towns that are unconventional: landlords, property owners and tenants alike are finding new and ingenious solutions to Britain’s property problems.

In Brighton for example, the home of eccentric musicians, bohemian artists and wayward students has now possibly become the home of the narrowest inhabited terraced house in Britain.  Nestled within a street of rather unremarkable terraced houses in the Hollingdean area of Brighton is a former donkey cart shed that’s been converted into a rather bijou one-bedroom student house.  At just over six foot wide, the house is small enough for visitors taller than six foot to touch both side walls of the house with outstretched arms!

However, this house isn’t just the making of a quirky news story, oh no!  It’s also a great solution to some of the most common property problems around right now: the landlords bought it for just £8,000 and renovated for a relatively cheap £15,000, making the rent much cheaper than your average student let, while the landlords claim that their tenant hardly ever needs to turn on the heating, as the house is very conveniently insulated by its neighbours.  What a bargain!

Of course, these sort of quirky and unusual houses are few and far between.  But, a more accessible solution to the problems for landlords with unused or abandoned property and tenants struggling to pay the rent is the growing trend of property guardianship.  Property guardians are recruited by property firms and live in empty houses and unused commercial properties, usually with rents much lower than those of conventional lets.  As well as allowing tenants to live in areas of towns and cities they could never afford under normal circumstances, these schemes also help to dramatically cut security and maintenance costs for landlords, making it beneficial to everyone involved.

There are, however, a few draw backs to being a property guardian: landlords often give very little notice for tenants to vacate the premises, and the schemes do not allow for tenants to live with dependants or pets.  But, on the whole, the property guardian scheme is a practical, cheap and exciting opportunity for those disillusioned with the usual rigmarole of looking for properties for rent and for sale.

So, how is this relevant to you, the average person looking for a great deal on a house for sale, or a flat for rent?  Well, whether or not you’re interested in living in a ridiculously narrow house, or becoming a property guardian, the lesson in all of this is very straightforward: the property market is changing, and you need to think outside the box.  While you’re looking through adflyer’s ever-expanding property section, keep your eyes peeled for a quirky house for sale or an unusual flat for rent, and you just might save yourself a bit of money and find a great place to live all at the same time.