House in the Clouds is an Old Water Tower Converted into a Bed & Breakfast!

We love hearing about old structures being <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/renovation/">converted</a> into comfortable living spaces, but a water tower?! Dubbed the "House in the Clouds", this architectural marvel was constructed 85 years ago as a <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/03/18/denmark-water-tower-rennovation/">water tower</a> to serve the township of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorpeness">Thorpeness</a> in Suffolk, England, but today it serves as a <a href="http://www.houseintheclouds.co.uk/">bed and breakfast</a> for anyone searching for a getaway overlooking England's low lying hills. Read on for the tower's history, which is just as curious as the tower itself.

When the tower was first being built, Thorpeness residents were worried about introducing an eyesore upon their unspoiled landscape.

So their design solution? Disguise it as a <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/03/19/fujimori-tea-house/">sky-high cottage</a>! Problem solved... well, for a while.

Eventually the water tower outlived its usefulness and was left to its own devices, abandoned to a fate like so many outdated buildings.

But just its luck, it had already become such an architectural fixture in the area that someone bought it up and outfitted it with windows, stairs and all the modern conveniences.

Now it sits happily 70 feet tall as a five bedroom, three bathroom <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/12/29/sacred-sands-a-strawbale-bb-guest-retreat/">bed and breakfast</a>. Talk about <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/tag/adaptive-reuse/">adaptive re-use</a>!