VIDEO: George Clarke's Amazing Spaces – genius 'disappearing bathroom' built in tiny house in Wales

From House Beautiful

The Dragon Tower in Flintshire, North Wales, appeared on the new series of George Clarke's Amazing Spaces, and followed Guy and his wife Tracey's plans to design and build a genius 'disappearing bathroom' in a tiny Victorian bakehouse.

The conversion was so spectacular that architect and TV presenter, George Clarke, said of the build on The One Show: 'Honestly, it is one of the greatest amazing spaces I have ever seen in my entire life.'

Aside from a seven-foot flaming Welsh dragon (called Maggon the Dragon) which breathes real fire above the front door of the now-holiday rental home, the biggest talking point was the movable wall of the living room-cum-kitchen, which pulls out to reveal a hidden bathroom (watch the video above to see it in action).

The movable wall glides with ease thanks to 24 pulleys, over 60 metres of cable, and pretty ingenious engineering from Guy. With an initial budget of £12,600, the couple's restoration of the 170-year-old building saw them overspend slightly by £2,000 with a total cost of £14,500, but the results are well worth it.

Not only did George praise the genius invention, but he said a few chapters of the rule book had just been rewritten, and, he declared: 'It’s one of my favourite projects ever.'

Find out more about the Dragon Tower and the Amazing Spaces episode below.

The Dragon Tower

The Dragon Tower is described as a 'rural stay with a twist'. Situated just 30 minutes from Chester, it's available to book for a staycation – when it is safe and permitted to so – with provisional bookings now being accepted from the end of July.

The small abode, which measures 2.6 metres by 3 metres in size and comfortably sleeps two adults, combines 'age engineering, careful restoration and a fantasy twist' to create a truly unique holiday accommodation. The former bakehouse sits alongside Guy and Tracey's main family home, where they have lived for four years.

On the ground floor of The Dragon Tower is the living room/kitchen. There's a kitchenette and a corner sofa that can be converted to a small bed. Genius storage awaits as you can press and pull down a picture frame to reveal storage for games, crafts and a dining table, which George called 'a brilliant bit of engineering'. There's also a bench under the sofa.

For the bathroom, you just need to pull on a handle and the kitchen will move away to reveal an ample-sized hidden bathroom, complete with a shower and toilet. FYI, the sink is the same one used in the kitchen.

Elsewhere, after climbing steep stairs to reach the top floor of the tower, you'll find the bedroom with a full-size double bed, a small desk and a small wardrobe.

For more information on The Dragon Tower and to book a future stay, visit the website at thedragontower.co.uk.

Amazing Spaces: series 9, episode 1

Series nine of the much-loved show, which explores the extraordinary world of inspirational and ingenious small builds, returns on Wednesday 17th June 2020 at 9pm on Channel 4.

Speaking to Alex Jones and Michael Ball on BBC's The One Show, George explained: 'In the first episode we have a fantastic story. A tiny little historic building in Wales that is turned into a little crash pad/den, a mini house basically.'

Praising the build, George said Guy was 'literally creating space', adding: 'The toilet sits in the position that it needs to be in because of all the drainage but when you put the kitchen back, you have a storage panel over the top of it, so you don’t even know it’s a loo.'

More clips of The Dragon Tower from episode 1:

• Mock-up cardboard wall

• A disappearing bathroom

'Your bathroom only needs to be big when you're in it, so I figured you could have the whole bathroom wall moved across and stuck on the wall, and when you need it, pull it towards you to create the bathroom,' explains aviation engineer Guy.

• One of the best ever builds on Amazing Spaces?

Witnessing their moveable wall, George told the couple: 'I've been lucky enough to see some staggeringly brilliant things on Amazing Spaces – this would be in my top five. It would even be in my top three. That is genius on another level.'

In the first episode of the brand new series, George also met a man squeezing a camper into a Reliant Robin, discovered Chile's stunning architecture and planned his hardest-ever build – an observatory.

The whole series will be available on All 4 (free to stream or download) from 17th June, following the transmission of episode 1.

Filming for the new series was paused during the coronavirus lockdown, with George telling The Metro back in May: 'We were meant to be doing eight episodes but all the builds have stopped. A lot of people cant get materials and so a lot of people aren’t physically able to finish their builds even though they’re small scale projects. There’s going to be a pause.'

George had, however, built his own sound booth in his home to record the voiceovers for the Channel 4 programme.

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