If you've ever driven over the East Sussex border along the A22, you might have caught a glimpse of a sprawling mansion property known as Hamilton Palace.
But the £40 million property near Uckfield isn't the lavish home you might imagine it to be, as for over 20 years it has been left half-finished, and to this day it is still covered in scaffolding with discarded building blocks and warning signs littering the grounds it stands on.
Hamilton Palace was once thought to be one of the most expensive private houses under construction in Britain. Still, almost four decades after construction began in 1985, the mansion has never been finished.
The home - which has a façade that is longer than Buckingham Palace - was designed for British multi-millionaire and convicted criminal Nicholas van Hoogstraten, but after a falling out with his architect over 20 years ago in 2000, work on the mansion came to a halt, and the building has been in limbo ever since.
But the mystery of Hamilton Palace goes deeper than its unfinished shell – as it was dubbed "The Ghost House of Sussex", with some suggesting the property could be haunted.
However, curious adventurers can't even get close to the mansion to take a look at its interior, as it's completely obscured by a thickly wooded area and can only be seen via a gated entrance to the estate.
And even if you do find a way through, you might not want to venture too far, as signs put in place warning of "shooting in progress", "dogs running free" and CCTV being in operation.
The abandoned mansion has remained almost completely empty since work stopped on the development over three decades ago, but one reporter did venture inside in 2000 when the property was said to be two years off completion.
That reporter revealed the inside of the home featured a grand central staircase and reception hall, with lift shafts already installed and expensive stone balustrades and pillars.
They also said space had been allocated for a fountain and a rooftop garden, as well as one entire floor that was due to house 78-year-old Nicholas van Hoogstraten's art collection.
But the owner was understood to have fallen out with architect Anthony Browne in 2000, bringing any work on the mansion to a halt and leaving the building in a half-finished state for the past 23 years.
Residents have fumed over the large area being left unused and also raised concerns about a public footpath that ran through it that Nicholas did not want to be used.
Six years ago, neighbours called for the property to be used for the homeless, but van Hoostraten - who is said to have changed his name to Nicholas Adolf von Hessen - called the idea "ludicrous".
Speaking to The Mirror in 2016, van Hoostraten said the "majority" of people living on the streets were there "by their own volition or sheer laziness" and called them "one of the filthiest burdens on the public purse today".
He also stated that work was continuing on the Hamilton Palace grounds.
Denying accusations that his ambitious mansion-building project had stalled, the owner said: "Even the most moronic of peasants would be able to see from the pictures that we have been busy landscaping the grounds of the palace.
"Hamilton Palace is far from 'crumbling' and was built to last for at least 2,000 years. The scaffolding only remains as a part of ongoing routine maintenance such a property would require until completion."
Van Hoogstraten, who was first jailed in 1968 for hiring thugs to throw a grenade at the home of a former business associate, is believed to spend most of his time in Zimbabwe.
His four eldest children reportedly look after his former business empire, acting under the name Messina Investments, having taken control of van Hoogstraten's reported £500m wealth.
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