I built secret £1m castle hidden behind giant wall of hay bales… I nearly got away with it but for meddling neighbours
A FARMER built a £1million castle without planning consent and hid it behind hay bales.
Robert Fidler built his mock-Tudor pad, complete with cannons and battlements, at Honeycrock Farm some time between 1999 and 2006.
He managed to keep it hidden for four years but the council found it and sent him 11 notices to tear it down.
Fidler, 67, who ignored the orders, argued the house in Salfords, Surrey, had been sold and was home to protected bats and newts.
But a High Court judge ordered him to pull it down or face three months in jail.
Fidler, who represented himself, claimed Reigate and Banstead Borough Council was out to “destroy” his life.
The four-bedroom property used over 300 trees and included a kitchen, living room, study, a gravelled forecourt and a conservatory.
He previously told The Sun: “They thought they could destroy us but they haven’t.
“I had applied for planning permission in 1998 and in 2005 when they asked me to demolish the building, they still hadn’t answered my planning application, seven years later.
“Their own legislation says they are supposed to reply to me within eight weeks and they did not do it within eight years.”
Fidler had hoped that he could use a loophole in the planning system which said that if a building had stood for four years without planning permission it would be allowed to remain.
He explained: “Obviously I was a bit cheeky, I built it behind a stack of straw so they would not find it for the four years.
“But the law made no provision for it being concealed.”
Fidler, a born-again Christian, continues to live in his farm’s converted office with his wife Linda and son Harry.
He has five other children and 15 grandchildren.
Inside are pictures of the castle which had a glass dome on the roof that Fidler said came from Brighton Pier.
He also said he kept the materials as he didn’t want to throw them away.
He reused the front door and wooden beams on which is inscribed: “We thank God for Jesus”.
The family had lived in the house – which Fidler wants compared to a Picasso – for 15 years until its demolition.
Now only the fireplace remains and some of the gating, around which are piles of materials and a gazebo with chairs in which Fidler said is for family event.
Fidler said: “I’m not a criminal. All I did was build a house for my family to live in on my own farm.
“When you think the council is desperately looking for places to build houses and spending all this money to demolish mine, it’s quite shocking isn’t it?”