I live in the smallest council house in the world and have to give strangers tours
A WOMAN who lives in the smallest council house in the world has revealed she has to give visitors tours of her property every week.
Fay Laflin has lived in the 17th century Dutch Cottage in Raleigh, Essex since 2008.
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The property is only 6 meters wide and was probably built in 1621 by Dutch settlers, who came to Essex to work on the sea defenses.
The octagonal house is a Grade II listed building and is believed to be one of the few Dutch cottages left in Britain, and the only one owned by the council.
Fay pays just £75 a week to live in the cute thatched cottage, and is ecstatic with her tiny home.
Fay told MailOnline: “It’s compact and bijou, but it’s just such a beautiful place to live, it’s really quirky.”
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Fay was one of fifty applicants who applied to live in the house, and the council decided she was best suited to live there.
She said: ‘I asked for it and hoped to get it. You had to write a letter explaining why you wanted to live here.
“I wrote and said I was only 6ft tall so I would be well suited for a small house.
“I don’t think it was the deciding factor, but I’m sure it helped.”
Fay’s house is so small that she had to have a special low bed made to fit into the small bedroom, which she can only access by a steep ladder.
The 49-year-old freelance director revealed that she has to open her tiny home to visitors once a week.
“It’s basically like living in a museum,” she said.
However, she said she is the perfect tour guide as her surname is Flemish and is related to 17th century settlers who came to the east of England after facing persecution.
“The Dutch colonists built sea walls on the coast.
“Who knows, they may have been here?” she said.
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