
A farmer has defied a government order to demolish his £1million castle he secretly built behind hay bales by claiming to have sold it.

Robert Fidler, 66, lost a nine-year legal battle to save his mock-Tudor dream home, complete with cannons and battlements, and was told to destroy it by Wednesday.

But the deadline has passed with the pile still standing and he said today the decision was out of his hands because he sold the property a week earlier, on June 15.

Mr Fidler has compared his creation to the work of Picasso and believes that selling it may have have secured its future.

Row: Robert Fidler has lost a nine-year legal battle to save the dream home (pictured) but he has missed his 90-day deadline to demolish it after claiming he sold it last week

Disguise: The 66-year-old used dozens of hay bales, blue tarpaulin and tyres to hide the house (above) from 2002 to 2006

He has refused to identify the new owner - but said they were allowing him and his wife and son to continue living at the property at Honeycrock Farm, in Salfords, Surrey.

The farmer, who also has over 100 cattle, said: 'I have sold it and all the time the new owner allows me to remain I will stay living here.

'I know it was meant to come down sometime this week, I don't know when. But I never had the intention of pulling it down. I don't think I have broken any laws.

The farmer says he will not allow his his mock-Tudor dream home, complete with cannons and battlements, to be destroyed

ROBERT FIDLER'S PLANNING WOES June 2002: Robert Fidler secretly builds his £1m home and hides it behind a large bale of hay. 2006: Fidler removes the bales, uncovering his home, believing he can exploit a planning loophole and seeks retrospective planning permission 2007: Reigate and Banstead Borough Council order him to demolish the house. February 2010: Fidler loses his first High Court appeal against the council’s decision February 2013: The Planning Inspectorate ruled that Fidler should demolish his home November 2014: Fidler appeals again claiming he keeps his cows on the land and needs to live nearby. April 2015: Fidler loses his latest appeal and is ordered to knock down his house within 90 days. June 2015: Fidler claims he can no longer demolish the house because he has sold it. Advertisement

'I've had my family home here for 40 years and they are saying demolish it - it's wrong.

'If someone said to Picasso, "Rip up your best oil painting" he wouldn't be able to do it. And neither can I. It's beautiful and I haven't broken any laws.'

Robert, who lives with wife Linda, 45, and son Harry, 14, started building the mock castle in 2002 but kept it hidden from neighbours behind hay bales and tarpaulin until unveiling it in 2006.

He hoped that by concealing the four-bedroom home built on Green Belt land he would exploit a loophole that meant if a construction lasts four years uncontested, authorities could not touch it.

But Reigate and Banstead Borough Council refused to grant retrospective permission and he has since spent tens of thousands of pounds on numerous court hearings.

The Planning Inspectorate dismissed his appeals but last November he was granted temporary planning permission for a maximum of three years.

He believed he had won his battle but the permission was withdrawn by former Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles who told him to tear it down.

Robert, who has five children from a previous marriage and has farmed the land there for 40 years, said: 'It's like going into a boxing ring with someone and when you start to when they pull out a gun and shoot you - you can't win.

'But it's in somebody else's hands now. They are adamant the property is there lawfully and they won't demolish it.

'They have written to me and said "Don't touch it, I will sue if you demolish it".'

Robert refused to reveal who he sold the home to and for how much but claimed the buyer was someone he did not know prior to his legal battle.

The local authority has yet to respond to a request for comment.

In April, after losing his final planning appeal, Robert admitted that he may be forced to concede, although today he said that he has sold his house to an unnamed buyer.

Piece of art: The cattle farmer says that Picasso would not be asked to destroy his finest work and neither should he

The four-bedroom house, complete with chandeliers, would be worth well in excess of £1million if sold on the open market