A family has been living in a bungalow situated in the middle of a roundabout for 40 years after they refused to give up their home while the busy circular road was built around them. David John and Eirian Howatson first moved into the cottage in Denbighshire, Wales, in 1960, almost two decades before plans were made to establish the roundabout.
However, their lives were turned upside down twenty years later when they were informed that the Denbigh bypass was going to be constructed around their house, the Mirror reports. The couple were told they couldn't build another bungalow on their small area of land so they refused to move and 42 years later the extraordinary home remains in the Howatson family.
The roundabout was finally completed in 1980 but unfortunately by this time David John had passed away. Passed down to new owner, Clwyd Howatson, 64, who has been living there for most of his life with his wife and son said that life on the roundabout "does get busy at times".
Despite the inconvenient busy location of their home, the bungalow is often bustling with the Howatsons big family made up of seven children and 12 grandchildren who visit the roundabout regularly. "We don't have to worry about any neighbours, but life on the roundabout does get busy at times - especially when the grandchildren stay over," Clwyd said.
"I've lived on the roundabout for over 40 years so it's pretty much all I know. We'd lived here for 20 years before that as well so it's been in the family for a long time."
Clwyd who has naturally became to used to living in such a bizarre spot after spending most of his adult life on the roundabout said that people are always fascinated by the family's strange home location and generally ask the same two questions in conversations about it:
"The first is always: 'how do you get to your house?' which is fairly self-explanatory with the drive at the bottom. And the second is always: 'is it noisy?' which it isn't really - I'd say it's like living by any road but it's not that bad, we have double glazing so it's not something that bothers us and the road only gets really busy at peak times which is only a few times a day.
"Getting off the roundabout on the other hand can be a bit of a challenge. When people are on a roundabout they don't expect someone to come out of the roundabout itself so we do get a few double-takes.
"It can be a bit awkward as well if someone lets you go because someone could be coming up on the other lane, but we don't really have any issues with it, we just tend to wait until it's a bit quieter which is most of the time." However, they do face some inevitable challenges on the roundabout such as receiving packages from delivery drivers as it understandably confuses a lot of people when they discover that the Howatsons' property is actually on the roundabout and not on a nearby road, Clwyd explained.
"We share the same post code as the houses around us so it can take a while for drivers to realise the house is on the roundabout if they've not been before. Normally when we give instructions it's fine, but I do end up saying: 'No, no, we're not by the roundabout - we're on it' and they always sound a bit dubious until they get here."
In terms of crashes, the family have been lucky enough to have not witnessed any serious collisions over the years. However, they did say that when the roundabout was first built it caused some confusion and some motorists would dangerously go round it the wrong way.
In terms of their future plans, Clwyd says they are not in a hurry to move away anytime soon although they wouldn't rule out the possibility as they get older. However they are assured that their roundabout bungalow will continue to be passed down in their family for many years to come.
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