UK Edition
The Tree House: Neglected home completely swallowed up by woodland to sell for nearly half a million
It may not look like it - but somewhere beneath this undergrowth is a three-bedroom end-of-terrace about to be auctioned for almost half a million pounds.
The dilapidated house which has been completely swallowed up by foliage is up for auction on Tuesday with a guide price of £450,000.
The home has been left abandoned for several years - enough time for it to develop its own private woodland.
According to auctioneers Savills, the property on Ruthin Road, in Blackheath, south east London, is "in need of complete modernisation".
It has a kitchen, reception room, three bedrooms and a bathroom. There is also a 50ft long back garden, which is heavily overgrown, as well as a garage.
Robin Howeson, director at Savills Auctions, said: "We don't get homes like this very often.
"It has been neglected for so long and is in need of a complete renovation. We're calling it The Tree House.
"It is on a really good street but it is so overgrown that it is surprising no one has made a complaint to the council about it.
"We have had a good level of interest. With the potential and the location it could make a great family home."
Other properties on the street sells for £800,000, so an adventurous buyer could snare a bargain.
The £450,000 price tag is still double the price of an average UK home, but just below the London average of £475,000.
The house will be auctioned by Savills at The Marriott Hotel on Grosvenor Square in Mayfair, London.
One neighbour, Julia, a Dublin native who has lived opposite the house for 52 years, said she remembers the former occupant planting the garden flora "quite a few years ago".
The 82-year-old said that the property has "been empty a few months now" and said the house has been swallowed by the plants "for a long time".
"There were loads of people here yesterday looking at it, and they have been a few times," she said.
"It was a lovely little house... it is a wonder the neighbours didn't kick off about it though," she added.
"I would love to see the windows, I bet the curtains are black."