A rare, 46-foot warplane acting as a “garden gnome” outside a $5 million English estate comes for free with the purchase of the sprawling property.
The decommissioned Harrier II jet plane — one of eight left in existence — comes as a packaged deal that comes along with Durford Edge, an 8,000 sq ft Arts and Crafts six-bedroom home near Petersfield, England that recently hit the market for £3.95 million (about $5 million).
Peter Robinson, 56, described his beloved aircraft to The Times UK as a “garden gnome” that has been sitting outside in his garden since he bought it in 2015.
“I thought, well, you know. Your average Joe, he likes a Harrier jump jet, he’s got a windowsill — he buys a Harrier model that is eight inches long and he puts it on his windowsill,” Robinson said.
“I think, in many ways, this is no different. I’m just lucky enough to have a really big windowsill.”
The massive jet is just one attraction atop the 10 acres of grounds, which features ornate gardens designed by Gertrude Jekyll alongside the home built by architect Inigo Triggs.
Despite his lifelong obsession with the jet, which amasses to a whopping 46ft by 29ft, Robinson says he hopes to downsize soon as his two sons have grown up.
Robinson, a mathematician who made it professionally by “solving problems” for the Ministry of Defense, recalled the difficulties getting the massive jet situated on the property.
“It came on two articulated lorries — it was far more enormous than I had envisaged. The fuselage came in on one lorry, and when that came around the corner and turned into the estate I suddenly thought I’d bought a Concorde because it looked so big. I thought: ‘Oh my God, what have I done?’”
His troubles only worsened when a panel of the plane fell off the lorry, unbeknownst to Robinson and the drivers, and ended up halting traffic for two hours in both directions.
“Everyone [looking at the debris on the motorway] assumed it was an aircraft door, but they had no idea where it was from,” he said.
“I spoke to the people we bought the plane from, and they said: ‘Whatever you do, don’t say anything [to the police].’ But a couple of weeks later I phoned them up and by that time they found it quite amusing — so they let me have it. I’m keeping it as a spare, as we’d already found a replacement from somewhere else.”
With plans to move somewhere smaller, Robinson says transporting the jet past the estate’s wrought-iron gates and walls at the front of the driveway would be nearly impossible.
Instead of trying to move the ginormous aircraft once again, Robinson says he’s including the Harrier II jet with the property — not asking the buyer to pay a penny more than the £3.95 million asking price for both the home and the piece of history.
While the massive jet taking up a majority of the home’s back garden may not be everybody’s cup of tea, Robinson noted that if the new owner is “offended” he will find a way to move it — either donating it to a museum or keeping it for his family.
“My eldest son 100 percent does not want me to get rid of it,” he added.