A stunning clifftop tower that inspired literary greats, such as Thomas Hardy, has sold out again in just five minutes.
Clavell Tower, a quirky holiday let owned by the Landmark Trust which overlooks Kimmeridge Bay in Dorset, is now fully booked until January 2020.
The latest round of bookings became available at 9am on Saturday but the slots for July to December 2019 sold out within minutes.
The Grade II listed 40ft tower is the building conservation charity’s most popular venue and holidaymakers who want to stay there have to plan almost two years in advance.
Clavell Tower, a quirky holiday let owned by the Landmark Trust which overlooks Kimmeridge Bay in Dorset, is now fully booked until January 2020
The Grade II listed 40ft tower is the building conservation charity’s most popular venue and holidaymakers who want to stay there have to plan almost two years in advance
Thomas Hardy is said to have courted his first love, Eliza Nichols, there and used it as a frontispiece for his Wessex Poems
Thomas Hardy is said to have courted his first love, Eliza Nichols, there and used it as a frontispiece for his Wessex Poems.
PD James was also inspired to write her book The Black Tower after seeing it in 1973 and the tower was painted black for the TV adaptation of the book in 1985.
A spokesman for the Landmark Trust said: ‘The spectacular Clavell Tower is once again the most coveted of our landmarks. Ever since we opened it in August 2008 it’s just been chock-a-block.
‘As soon as we release new dates they get booked really quickly. This time it sold out in five minutes.’
PD James was also inspired to write her book The Black Tower after seeing it in 1973 and the tower was painted black for the TV adaptation of the book in 1985
The transformed tower now offers accommodation for two with a bathroom, bedroom, kitchen/dining room and lounge over four storeys
The seating area on the top floor offers a fantastic vantage point to watch the changing light, weather and sea from the cosy hideaway
The Trust saved the tower, which was built in 1830, from a watery grave and opened it to the public as an unusual holiday let in August 2008.
It spent £900,000 to have the tower painstakingly dismantled and rebuilt 85ft inland after coastal erosion left it perched perilously close to the edge of the crumbling 120ft cliffs.
All of the folly’s 16,272 stones were carefully photographed and numbered so it could be rebuilt stone-by-stone and as accurately as possible in its new position.
Experts believed in its previous position, 19ft from the edge, it would only have been another five years until the ground beneath it crumbled – the trust have bought it another 200 years.
Clavell Tower, on the Smedmore Estate, was built by Reverend John Richards Clavell as an observatory and folly.
Clavell Tower can be booked for a three-night weekend, four-night midweek break or a week and prices start from £466
The Trust saved the tower, which was built in 1830, from a watery grave and opened it to the public as an unusual holiday let in August 2008
The bedroom, on the third storey, has a door onto a balcony that circles the whole building
After he died in 1833 and passed the estate to his niece the tower became a destination for picnics and family expeditions.
From the 1880s until 1914 it served as a lookout post for the coastguards but was then left empty and became increasingly derelict.
After four years of fundraising and a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund the complicated project to move the tower began.
The transformed tower now offers accommodation for two with a bathroom, bedroom, kitchen/dining room and lounge over four storeys.
The bedroom, on the third storey, has a door onto a balcony that circles the whole building.
It spent £900,000 to have the tower painstakingly dismantled and rebuilt 85ft inland after coastal erosion left it perched perilously close to the edge of the crumbling 120ft cliffs
All of the folly’s 16,272 stones were carefully photographed and numbered so it could be rebuilt stone-by-stone and as accurately as possible in its new position
Before the transformation the tower had become increasingly derelict from 1914 onwards
While the seating area on the top floor offers a fantastic vantage point to watch the changing light, weather and sea from the cosy hideaway.
The South West Coastal Path runs along past its door and guests have a ten-minute walk from the car park to the tower.
The spokesman added: ‘The location is stunning – being able to stare out at the sea while lying in bed is quite spectacular.
‘People do have to be really organised and think far ahead to have a holiday there, but because it’s so popular people know they have to be prepared.’
Clavell Tower can be booked for a three-night weekend, four-night midweek break or a week and prices start from £466.
The next block of bookings for the first half of 2020 will be made available in September.