From historic ruins and underground cave systems to ancient dinosaur bones, these unassuming homes have plenty to hide. Concealing unexpected extras that go beyond any normal properties, discover what's lurking within the walls and grounds of these delightful surprising homes.
Click or scroll through to uncover their secrets from hidden spaces to ancient discoveries...
Over in the Byron Bay Hinterland of New South Wales, Australia, you'll find a rather unassuming property. It sits on 12 acres (4.9ha) of land surrounded by trees.
Located next to Nightcap National Park, the estate is home to five large detached buildings, all of which need some TLC and are in a state of decay. In fact, it's almost like a private village. But that isn't why this lot is interesting...
Built by eccentric architect Ed Kingsbury, the visionary behind local tourist icon Crystal Castle, the property is almost too unusual to be true. This is the entrance to the estate, a pretty castle front with two identical towers.
Head through the gate-like doors and you'll find yourself in a tranquil, forested property. Here, you'll find two medieval-style structures that resemble castle ruins.
This is one of the unique properties on the estate and it boasts gorgeous decorative brickwork, climbing ivy walls and a dramatic outdoor terrace that's almost suspended over the valley below.
Inside, each of the buildings is in a sorry state, but there are plenty of amazing features that would be well worth preserving. These include pretty tiled floors, soaring beamed ceilings and arched windows.
The ultimate fixer-upper project, this incredible property could certainly be described as one of a kind! The home was last listed for sale for AUD$890,000, which is £458,000 ($594k).
Situated on over 108,000 acres (43.7k ha) and comprising five homes, Three Springs Ranch is an exceptional property with a, shall we say, interesting history?
The ranch is in the aptly named Dinosaur, Colorado, and while today is primarily home to grazing cattle and big game, was once a playground for much larger animals whose bones now rest deep within the hills.
The property comes with two different owner’s homes, both built in the classic modern log cabin style, as well as a hunting cabin and separate housing for both managers and employees.
Sheltered by peaks up to 8,000 feet (2,438m), the home is a remote retreat with plenty of scope for exploration. And some of things found over time have been quite the surprise...
At one time, Colorado was considered a hot spot for dinosaur fossil discovery, with many of the unearthed skeletons now on display in local museums.
In 1979, on a visit to Three Springs Ranch, a 12-year-old girl named India Wood went exploring on the property and, with just a bit of recreational digging, discovered the entire skeleton of an allosaurus.
That's a large carnivorous dinosaur that lived about 150 million years ago!
While India’s allosaurus skeleton is now in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (pictured), who knows what else might still be lurking on the ranch’s rolling acres, which span 18 miles (29km) from the north to White River in the south.
The property is also a sportsman’s paradise, with a year-round 600-head cattle operation, an abundance of elk and deer for big game hunting and numerous creeks, springs and stocked ponds. And we're sure many more dinosaur bones are still out there waiting to be discovered.
Located in LA’s prestigious Pacific Palisades neighbourhood, this 1930s home is the quintessential example of the Tudor-inspired, storybook-style architecture, with additional elements drawn from Art Deco and old world farmhouse styles.
The home was a true labour of love for its owners, who spent the past 60 years collecting one-of-a-kind materials and items from around the world.
However, while its exterior may be picture book perfect, its interior is even more packed with breathtaking surprises…
Exquisite features such as the turreted entryway, stained glass windows, wrought iron staircase, hardwood floors and exposed-beam ceilings give the home plenty of character.
But it is the salvaged items which give it a true sense of history. Several of the doors were taken from the Los Angeles Athletic Club, while the bar in the dining room and the headboard in the master bedroom were fashioned from pieces originally displayed in Louis XIV-era French palaces, sourced from the Hearst Castle Art Collection.
However, the real surprises are the many secretive spaces and rooms hidden in the house. At first glance this may look like a comfy loft space, with chairs to recline in by the windows. But what's that to the right?
A secret room lies beyond that tiny door and there's more than one in the attic alone. And there's more below the home...
Underneath the dining room lies a darkroom, a workshop and a storage room. This staircase is lined with more treasures and tools the couple sourced from around the globe.
In addition to the main house, there is also a charming ‘casita’, which is constructed almost entirely from reclaimed produce crates and beams for a rustic, farmhouse feel. With so much effort and ingenuity invested in the home, it was listed for $3.3 million (£2.5m).
Impresario of the silver screen and creator of beloved theme parks around the world, Walt Disney combined the roles of entrepreneur, dreamer and businessman.
It should come as no surprise then that Disney’s long-time LA home is an homage to his life’s work. Externally lavish and elegant, but packed with whimsical touches on the inside, it's much like the famous ‘easter egg’ details he liked to lace into his films.
Inside, the home includes a wealth of period features, including vaulted beamed ceilings, wood panelled walls and mullioned windows. And in the backyard lies a piece of Disney history...
Disney’s appropriately storybook-style home draws on architectural elements from the French Provincial, Country Tudor and Neo-Gothic styles. It would go on to serve as the inspiration for much of the architecture in his first theme park in Anaheim.
The devil is in the details with this unique home. A close examination of the stained-glass pains in the windows will reveal several figures that are said to have inspired some of Disney’s most beloved characters. And the magnificent painted panels on the ceiling in the dining room and the one above the main staircase (seen here) are an homage to the set dressing in some of Disney’s earlier films.
A notoriously hard worker, Disney spent little time relaxing, even when at home. In fact, he worked on some of his most famous films at the property, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Cinderella and Pinocchio.
A real treat, the original home theatre where Disney watched the dailies of his movies (the raw, unedited footage shot over a day's shoot) is still a prominent part of the house. A hidden screen sits behind the cupboards, or you can drop down a concealed projection screen from the ceiling. But there's another big surprise in the backyard...
Tucked away in the immaculate garden is an adorable cottage-style playhouse that was the Disney girls’ Christmas gift in 1937. Diane and Sharon would have been aged four and one at the time, but we can imagine they loved the miniature house throughout their childhoods.
Possibly inspired by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which came out that same year, the tiny playhouse was said to include a working phone, on which Santa called the girls to wish them a "merry Christmas" according to the Walt Disney Family Museum.
In the centre of Flathead Lake, the largest natural inland body of water west of the Mississippi, sits Cromwell Island, a remote retreat with approximately 2,900 feet (884m) of shoreline.
For those who don’t think Montana’s ‘big sky’ heartland provides enough privacy, the island is the perfect place to escape the world. That is, if you don’t mind a potential mysterious neighbour…
In the 1980s, the island was purchased by antiques dealer Robert M. Lee who, along with his wife, built the shell of what was intended to be a magnificent sprawling mansion.
However, Lee sadly passed away in 2016 before the home could be completed, leaving only the exterior behind. The house has sat empty ever since, providing a phenomenal development opportunity for a buyer with the right vision, but no one has snapped it up yet.
Part of the reason the home has languished on the market for so long may be the local legends about Flessie. She's a Loch Ness Monster-style beast from the deep who supposedly haunts the waters of Flathead Lake and is recognisable by her deer antlers.
Technically a cryptid, a creature seen by some but never proven to exist, Flessie’s origins date back over one hundred years. Her story can be attributed to the local Native American Kutenai tribe, though sitings are still regularly reported today.
However, if tales of cryptids don’t scare you away, then this spectacular 45,000-square-foot (4,181sqm) home and adjoining guest house offer plenty of scope for creative development.
The remote property could easily be turned into a camp, corporate retreat or hotel. And who knows, the possibility of spotting Montana’s own Nessie might even be an enticing marketing angle.
This curious concrete structure may resemble an emergency bunker, but trust us, there’s nothing remotely ‘doomsday’ about the inside of this home.
Ominously dubbed LA’s ‘House of Sin', the property is located in the opulent Hollywood Hills enclave. When it was last listed in 2022, it came with a $10.2 million (£7.9m) price tag well worthy of its surroundings. Let’s see what all the fuss is about…
The property was famously owned by photographer Richard Franklin. He is said to have photographed celebrities and more than 600 models, taking the pictures in this very home.
The 7,500 square-foot-house (697sqm) includes five bedrooms and six bedrooms. Naturally there's ample entertainment space with plenty of slick amenities, including an indoor spa, chef’s kitchen, home theatre, dance studio, roof deck and pool complete with a love swing.
However, while some of these features might be deemed lavish, they are nothing compared to the unusual basement. This black-lit space, accessed by means of a gold-painted hallway, includes a casino, disco club and ‘grotto room.’
It doesn’t take much imagination to picture the parties that would have taken place in this psychedelic space, against a backdrop of fluorescent light art installations and dramatic, space-inspired projection shows.
Unsurprisingly, the home has served as a popular filming location for reality TV shows and fashion shoots. With its range of potential dramatic backdrops, including views of both the ocean and the LA city lights, it certainly offers plenty of creative scope.
Just don’t let its more sophisticated entertaining spaces fool you, this house epitomises the cliché of ‘business in the front, party in the back!’
Walking distance from LA’s Venice Beach, this cute cottage was once the home of artist Laura Kimpton, heir to the Kimpton hotel empire.
While the cottage may appear charmingly unassuming, it hides an exciting secret around back with ties to Nevada’s infamous Burning Man Festival. The avant-garde arts festival is held every year in the Black Rock Desert.
Burning Man has been an annual phenomenon since its inception back in 1986 in San Francisco. It attracted over 78,000 people in 2019 before lockdown, however the pandemic famously shuttered the festival the following year.
Now synonymous with Burning Man’s pre-pandemic peak, the iconic LOVE sculpture that debuted at the 2019 festival, designed by Kimpton herself, is a surprising bonus feature at her Venice home.
The art doesn’t look as out of place as you might think in the famously breezy, bohemian neighbourhood of Venice Beach.
The home includes two bedrooms and a guest house in a sunny, gated back garden. In spite of its age, the entire home feels bright, modern and airy thanks to vaulted ceilings and white walls.
The spacious master bedroom includes a lounge, ensuite and, best of all, front row viewing of the LOVE sculpture through a set of sliding glass doors which provide access out into the backyard.
With plenty of entertaining space, sleek modern finishes and of course some artistic flair, the Venice Beach cottage is a chance to own a little piece of Burning Man history – talk about feeling the love!
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