FAMILY HAS LIVED IN MIDDLE OF TRAFFIC CIRCLE FOR 40+ YEARS
A Welsh family has been living in the middle of a traffic circle for over four decades, after refusing to leave their land when the circular road was built around it.
In 1960, when David and Eirian Howatson moved into their home in Denbighshire, Wales, the area was just a regular neighborhood, and things were pretty normal for about two decades.
Then, authorities came knocking and let them know that their property was right where a new roundabout was going to be built. The Howatsons refused to move away. So, the traffic circle was built around their home. The family has been living there, in the middle of it, ever since.
“I’ve lived on the roundabout for over 40 years, so it is pretty much all I know. We had lived here for 20 years before it, so it has been in the family for a long time,” a current family member said. “We do not have to worry about any neighbors, but life on the roundabout does get busy at times – especially when the grandchildren stay over.”
He says that most of the people who hear that he and his family live in the middle of a traffic circle usually have two questions: how he gets to his house—which is easy to figure out, considering that they have a driveway leading in from the road—and is it noisy?
“I’d say it is like living by any noisy road, but it is not that bad. We have double glazing, so the noise is not something that bothers us. The road only gets really busy at peak times which is only a few times a day,” the man said.
Other cars, driving next to the Howatsons, are shocked when they suddenly turn off the road into their drive way. No one actually expects another motorist to exit into the middle of a roundabout. So far, though, they have had no accidents because of it.
One of the biggest challenges of living in the middle of a traffic circle is having packages delivered. Because the family shares the same postal code as nearby houses on normal streets, it usually takes a while for delivery drivers to figure out that their house is in the middle of the traffic circle.
“Normally when we give instructions, it is fine, but always I do end up saying: ‘No, no, we are not next to the roundabout – we are on it.’ Delivery drivers always sound a bit dubious until they get here,” Clwyd Howatson said.
The traffic circle house has been in the family for over 40 years, and the current occupants have no plans of moving anytime soon. Their home is quirky and unique, and they like it that way—which is good because they would probably have a very hard time finding a buyer!
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