- House has been compared to Chicago house from Christmas film Home Alone
A mansion dubbed the UK’s version of the Home Alone house has gone on the market for £7million.
The seven-bedroom home in Cobham, Surrey, is complete with a heated swimming pool, private cinema room, gym and wine cellar.
It has been compared to the suburban Chicago house from the cult Christmas film Home Alone due to the exterior’s resemblance to the McCallister residence.
In the movie Macaulay Culkin‘s character Kevin McCallister hilariously defends his home from burglars Harry and Marv aka The Wet Bandits.
Potential buyers are reassured that, unlike Kevin’s home, the Surrey mansion comes with a working security system.
The real Home Alone house is based in Winnetka, Illinois, and is said to be worth around $2.3million today – around £1.8million.
The 4,243 square foot property in Chicago boasts half an acre and attracts tourists from around the world each year.
Fans are now being given the opportunity to buy their ‘own Home Alone house’ in the UK – for the hefty price of £7million.
The property, which sits in a 0.73 acre plot, is stretched over 13,469 square feet – more than three times the size of the original Home Alone House.
Estate agent Adam Day, from eXp UK, said: ‘At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking this is the actual Home Alone house.
‘But it’s fair to say that this property is far superior.
‘It’s certainly large enough to host a film crew, but the last thing you would want to do is let Kevin run riot given his previous form for destruction.
‘The good news is that it comes with a full security system and so if you do make a habit of forgetting your children, you can rest assured they will be safe and sound.’
The huge home boasts nine bathrooms, a breakfast room, family room, snooker room, utility room, triple garage and a steam room.
It also comes equipped with climate control, underfloor heating, air conditioning, smart home system and solar panels.
Estate agents eXp UK said the ‘showcase’ home is the ‘epitome of lavish living’ and describe it as ‘masterstroke of architectural prowess’.
They added the freehold, detached home also ‘gives off serious Home Alone vibes and then some’.
The estate agents listing adds: ‘Crafted to the most exacting standards, it is a symphony of comfort and extravagance, offering a lifestyle beyond compare.
‘As one of the most expansive and luxurious homes within the estate, represents the pinnacle of comfort, luxury, and modernity, transcending the very concept of a dream home to unimaginable heights of splendour.’
- The property offers sprawling views of the Norfolk coast line and salt marshes
A stunning £4.5 million five-bed house with a four-bed guest cabin nestled in an idyllic spot boasting of coastal views is up for grabs – with the lucky person able to win the property for just £10.
The beautifully designed home, complete with a swimming pool and yoga space, boasts of views of the Blakeney salt marsh and the harbour in Norfolk.
It is the latest property to be listed as part of the Omaze Million Pound House Draw. The property comes mortgage free – with all stamp duty and legal fees covered, with the lucky winner also being handed £100,000 in cash.
If the victor decides to rent it out, local estate agents estimate the property could achieve a long term annual rental value of around £60,000.
The dream property has a main house with five-bedrooms, an additional guest cabin with another four-bedrooms and a standalone office. The sprawling home provides plenty of room for entertaining spaces.
The house showcases striking modern architecture that has been meticulously designed to celebrate the nearby coastline, through its use of floor to ceiling feature windows that perfectly frame the coastal views, which can also be admired from several balconies and terraces throughout the property.
The front of the home has a large landscaped decking area that links directly to the heart of the house – the open plan kitchen, living and dining area, complete with sliding glazed doors on each side.
When opened the doors create a seamless continuation of space from the swimming pool courtyard, through the house and onto an outside terrace and dining area that overlooks the North Norfolk coastline.
The lounge, set between the ground and first floor has a large framed view out to the North Sea, while the principal bedroom has twin dressing areas and bathrooms.
The first floor also has three further double bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms and a balcony.
A wellbeing area provides a steam room, yoga space and gym with ‘Technogym’ equipment including a Treadmill and Weights System accompanied by a Peloton exercise bike – while the cinema room has been built in the ‘Everyman’ mould with acoustic walls, doors and ceiling
The guest cabin – which is attached to the main house – gives friends and family their own private quarters with a further four double bedrooms with en-suite shower rooms and the principal bedroom providing fine views over to the village and prominent village church.
All rooms have direct access to the private and enclosed gardens, with a terraced entertaining area complete with kiln fireplace.
A heated swimming pool, with the south to south-west aspect providing the ideal setting for outside enjoyment.
There is also a raised decking and an outside kitchen area with steps down to paved areas that surround the house.
The property also has a stand-alone studio building – dubbed The Hub – at its southernmost point. This can be accessed through landscaped gardens of nepeta and tall grasses, with a wildlife pond, which leads to glazed doors into an open plan area, perfect for use as an office space.
With a sitting area, meeting area and desk space, this is the ideal work from home setup, complete with a kitchen, shower room and a further room that can be used for storage.
An expanse of lawn sweeps away from the house, with wildflower areas, tall grasses and clipped hedging providing horticultural form all year round. Within the grounds is a kitchen garden, ornamental pond and easily maintained private gardens.
The house is situated close to Blakeney – a quintessential coastal village, with pretty flint cottages lining narrow streets leading down to the charming quay.
The village has excellent pubs including The White Horse and Kings Arms, a thriving delicatessen, art galleries, The Moorings fish restaurant, the renowned Blakeney Hotel and the convenience of a village store.
The picturesque market town of Holt, just over four miles away, is renowned for its boutique shopping, Byford’s delicatessen, good restaurants, pubs and further specialist and everyday shopping.
There are also banking and transport facilities within the town and a host of schools nearby.
As well as making its Grand Prize winner a multi-millionaire – the Omaze Million Pound House Draw, Norfolk – will support the RNLI – raising crucial funds to help the charity continue its lifesaving work.
The RNLI’s volunteer lifeboat crews provide a 24-hour rescue service in the UK and Ireland, and their seasonal lifeguards look after people on busy beaches.
All of the training, kit and equipment RNLI’s lifesavers need is funded by generous donations. It’s with the support of the public that the charity continues to save lives at sea.
Omaze has guaranteed a minimum donation of £100,000 and has a target of at least £1,000,000.
The draw has been launched by BAFTA winning actress, wild swimmer and RNLI Ambassador, Joanna Scanlan, whose sister-in-law is a volunteer Deputy Launch Authority at RNLI Beaumaris on Anglesey, which means she is responsible for requesting the launch of their lifeboat.
Joanna said: ‘This fabulous house in Norfolk is a truly life changing prize for one lucky winner – but more importantly, the money and awareness raised through this innovative partnership with Omaze will help the RNLI continue its lifesaving work.
‘The RNLI has saved over 142,700 lives at sea since 1824 – and everyone who enters will be contributing towards the crucial training and equipment their lifesavers need to help people who find themselves in trouble in the water – and of course one lucky person is guaranteed to win this dream home too.’
James Oakes, Chief International Officer at Omaze, said: ‘We’re delighted to be partnering with the RNLI for our latest house draw in Norfolk. By offering this stunning property, along with £100,000 in cash, we’re giving people the chance to live mortgage and rent free for the rest of their life – as well as raising money for charities whilst introducing them to brand new audiences.
‘We’re incredibly proud that the Omaze community has already raised £15,400,000 for good causes across the UK.’
In addition to winning the Grand Prize house – people who enter by midnight on Sunday August 13 will be in with the chance to win an additional life changing £250,000 in cash.
Draw entries for the Omaze Million Pound House Draw, Norfolk are available now at www.omaze.co.uk. The draw closes on Bank Holiday Monday August 28 for online entries and Wednesday August 30 for postal entries.
For full terms and conditions, see www.omaze.co.uk. No purchase necessary to enter. Over 18s and UK residents only.
- The barn near Henley-on-Thames is a place of pilgrimage for fans of the movie
A converted barn that appeared in the classic children’s movie, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, has gone up for sale for £2 million.
Kiln Barn can be seen in the 1968 film when Truly Scrumptious, played by Sally Ann Howes, swerves into a pond in her 1909 Humber 8hp car, to avoid hitting youngsters Jeremy and Jemima Potts.
The barn is in the hamlet of Russell’s Water near Henley-on-Thames, Oxon, is a place of pilgrimage for fans of the movie, which starred Dick Van Dyke as eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts, who creates a magical flying car.
The property has five bedrooms, four reception rooms and three bathrooms as well as a separate annexe.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was based on a story by James Bond writer Ian Fleming, which was adapted for screen by children’s author Roald Dahl.
There are two scenes in the film which include the pond on the grounds of Kiln Barn.
The second shows Caractacus and the children driving in Chitty when Truly coming the opposite direction veers off into the pond. Caractacus walks in and carries her out and insists she comes for a ride with them.
Miss Howes died aged 91 in 2021 but is remembered with a plaque on the perimeter wall of Kiln Barn and a tree at Russell’s Water, which were unveiled by members of her family in May this year.
The ceremony was attended by the original 1909 Humber 8hp car she drove in the film, on loan from the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, and a reconstructed Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Along with a beloved location, the new owner of Kiln Barn will acquire a home that couldn’t be more different to the ramshackle property which belonged to the Potts family in the film.
Visitors arrive to a spacious front hall, with a 27ft living room, with inglenook fireplace leading from it to the left. To the right are an office bedroom, another bedroom plus a bathroom and shower.
The dining room is also off the hall, which leads onto the kitchen, a garden room, laundry room, back hallway and family room, all overlooking the barn’s extensive gardens.
Upstairs there are three bedrooms, and two bathrooms, including an en-suite to the principal bedroom, which also has its own dressing room.
The property’s annexe comprises a kitchen, family room and bathroom with three bedrooms from a hallway with a separate entrance. There is also a garage large enough to accommodate a flying car.
The property comes with a wealth of original features, including exposed brickwork, beams, a fireplace with seating area, a white, country-style kitchen, and traditional cottage planking doors, and is decorated in tasteful, pale hues.
Outside, the barn has rural views across mature gardens and paddocks set in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the village of Russell’s Water.
Jo Parker, of estate agents Fine & Country of Henley-on-Thames, described the sale as a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ for someone to acquire an ‘idyllic property’.
She said: ‘It belongs to a couple who are moving abroad for work purposes – if it wasn’t for that reason they would probably never have left.
‘The property would be ideal for anyone who wanted to keep horses, or for a family that wanted their children to enjoy living in a beautiful, rural location with three hundred acres of fields and bluebell woodlands nearby.
‘When you speak to the current owners and their friends, they will tell you about the incredible memories they have created at Kiln Barn. From lively garden parties to intimate barbecues, this place has an enchanting atmosphere that is truly wonderful and it is set in a delightful village with a real sense of community.’
Astrocast Case Study: Involi
Involi works with Astrocast to add satellite connectivity to its drone tracking solution. With complete traffic awareness and drone positioning information across the globe, commercial operators can expand drone usage for delivery, surveying and emergency support to even the most remote, unpopulated areas of the world.
Challenge: Expanding Drone Reach Safely
The global commercial drone market is growing fast as organisations embrace the reliability and extended flying range of larger drones to support an array of new business cases – including the last mile of delivery and mining operations. With continuous and precise notifications, businesses can access challenging terrain, not only enabling the delivery of vital goods but also improving safety in hazardous environments. As a result, the global commercial drone market is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 57.5% from 2021 to 2028.
The expansion of both fleets and geographic areas, however, raises its own challenges. How can firms ensure safety, meeting global regulatory demands to safeguard aviation aircrafts? How can companies manage and track entire drone fleets to optimise operations? Ever longer flights are Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), what happens when a drone loses power or crashes? These are expensive pieces of equipment – costing up to $50,000; the ability to recover a lost drone is vital to creating a viable business case. Furthermore, with so many use cases located in rural and unpopulated areas, standard communications networks such as 4G are often unavailable, potentially limiting operations.
Involi, a Swiss-based expert in air traffic information and surveillance, has established its LEMAN RID Tracker as a key solution to commercial operators, providing visibility across an entire drone fleet.
“Our drone tracking and Remote ID solution allows commercial operators to track drone traffic in real-time and be compliant with Remote ID international regulations.”
says Raphael Zaugg, Chief Technology Officer, Involi
The complete solution is a combination of a plug-and-play device with GPS, a Network Remote ID server, and a set of visualization, alerting, and API services, using 4G networks to provide drone positioning. In April 2022, Involi recognised the need to add satellite connectivity to its solution to provide connectivity across any global location. Under a project initiated by the European Space Agency (ESA), Involi embarked upon a collaboration with Astrocast to create a robust, lightweight solution to track drones across any location.
Solution: Adding Satellite Connectivity
Antenna development was a vital aspect of the project. The tracker requires a satellite antenna that is both small and light enough to avoid drag or affect the drone in flight while also providing excellent connectivity, even if a drone crashed. Astrocast leveraged its extensive radio frequency expertise to undertake a custom antenna development for Involi.
“Antenna science is complex. It was vital to achieve the right balance of size and weight, as well as a wide aperture to maximise the satellite connectivity,”
explains Federico Belloni, Chief Technology Officer, Astrocast
A satellite connection requires the antenna to be pointing upwards, therefore the solution includes two antennas – one on either side of the drone – to provide 360-degree coverage in the event of a crash landing.
Involi has developed a new tracker platform that integrates with the Astrocast technology. The solution is small, lightweight and demands extremely low battery power usage to meet the needs of commercial drone operators. The process of integrating Astrocast into the Involi tracker was extremely straightforward.
“From an engineering point of view, adding Astrocast is as easy as integrating any connectivity module. Astrocast provides detailed technical information documentation and development modules as well as access to teams of experts to support the integration process through its development and partner programs.”
says Raphael Zaugg, Chief Technology Officer, Involi
Benefits: Enabling Cost Effective Drone Operations
As the commercial drone business model expands, especially BVLOS and automated flights, demands on operators will increase. A complex safety portfolio and trusted access to robust surveillance data to prove strategic and tactical mitigations of air and ground risks will be essential. The addition of satellite connectivity will provide operators with confidence in continuous access to drone location data anywhere in the world.
Cost is paramount – to safeguard the viability of the business case, the solution must be affordable.
“Astrocast’s solution works technically and cost-effectively. The other satellite options are far too expensive to justify, even for high-value drones. With this tracker, we can deliver an efficient solution that supports the drone operator’s business case.”
confirms Raphael Zaugg, Chief Technology Officer, Involi
Involi’s lightweight design ensures the tracker can be easily integrated with drones – especially the heavier ones. In addition, by creating a solution that has its own battery and connectivity, the tracker is independent of the drone. Even if the drone loses power, the tracker is still powered and provides location information, enabling operators to recover the expensive asset.
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The tracking solution is also future-proofed through Astrocast’s bidirectional, cost-efficient satellite IoT solution. Currently, Involi is only transmitting information from the drone to the base station. However, the bidirectional functionality provides the opportunity to update firmware remotely if required. It could also be used to add the ability to terminate a drone in flight, should that be required by global air regulators in the future.
Conclusion
Involi’s Remote Drone tracker is a key component of its overall solution, which also includes visualisation and data analytics to enable commercial drone operators to effectively manage the entire operation.
“The collaboration between Involi and Astrocast was excellent. The team spirit was aligned, and we worked together both virtually and physically sharing knowledge – and pizza – to achieve the right solution and deliver the next generation of drone tracking to the market.”
concludes Raphael Zaugg, Chief Technology Officer, Involi
By working with Astrocast to add satellite connectivity to the tracker, Involi can now offer all drone operators complete traffic awareness and positioning anywhere in the world, unlocking the potential for new use cases and vital service delivery.