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Our first unique stays UK – The Dragon Tower, as featured on Channel 4’s George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces. First aired in June 2020, we discovered The Dragon Tower wasn’t that far away from our home in Shropshire, and we made it our mission to visit before we moved to London.
Our visit was a surprise weekend away for Stacey to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I (Joel) told loads of people we were visiting, and almost everyone knew about The Dragon Tower from the TV show – it’s surprisingly famous!
The Dragon Tower is as impressive in real life as it is on TV. We arrived on a cold, frosty Friday afternoon and were welcomed by Guy (the guy behind the fantastic engineering) and a fire-breathing dragon named Maggon, who we’ll explain more about later. The Dragon tower is a restored ancient bakehouse located near Mold, in North Wales, and if you know anything about it, you will know it consists of three unusual things:
- It’s tiny
- There’s a moving wall
- It’s home to a fire-breathing dragon
There’s also a cat named Sully, who you will find wandering around. He’s super friendly and a nightmare to photograph! We loved our stay at Dragon Tower and recommend a visit. So, without further ado, let us introduce you to this truly unique stay.
The Dragon Tower
What’s Inside
Measuring roughly 2.6 x 3 metres, The Dragon Tower is miniature. But despite its size, it can house up to two adults and two children. So, what’s inside The Dragon Tower? A lot of stuff, surprisingly! It’s got everything you need for a comfortable weekend away. It has the all-important wifi connection, toilet, shower, sink, kettle, fridge, toaster, hob, two TVs (with Netflix, YouTube and whatnot), a double bed, sofa (that doubles up as a bed for the kids) and dining table (that folds out of a wall!).
The interior is well thought out and quirky in more ways than one – through the décor and engineering. The décor and colour schemes are beautiful, and the finishing touches are on point, with plenty of nods towards dragons dotted around. Upstairs you will find a surprisingly spacious bedroom with Tracey’s interior design skills all over it.
It’s easy to see the effort that’s been put into Dragon Tower, even down to the custom fittings, let alone the custom wall that was created to enable so much to fit into such a small space.
The Moving Wall
Because of the size of the tower, a moving wall has been engineered to create enough space for a bathroom, which consists of a toilet and shower. The sink is shared with the kitchen when the wall is seated in the living room configuration. To operate the wall, pull a copper handle until you can’t move it anymore and voila! Unbelievably, almost 30 pulleys and 60 metres of cable enable the wall to move.
Despite joining the navy as a submariner engineer, I find nuclear engineering more straightforward to understand than the moving wall. It’s a truly mind-blowing piece of engineering that I still can’t get my head around. And because I can’t see the pulleys in action to help understand the movements, it remains an engineering mystery! Ha!
Maggon the Dragon
Our favourite part and pièce de résistance of The Dragon Tower is Maggon, the dragon. Created by master craftsman Simon O’Rourke, 120kg Maggon is carved from a fallen giant redwood tree. Measuring seven feet tall and constructed from four pieces of wood, Maggon breathes real fire. Of course, it does – what else would you expect from a couple who built a moving wall to reveal a bathroom?
When Maggon was first created, the fire-breathing was activated by the doorbell. That’s no longer the case, as Guy told us, due to insurance purposes. Ha! Now, Maggon is operated by a cabled switch and can breathe fire as you arrive, as we witnessed. And what a spectacle it was. You might even get to toast some marshmallows, as we did!
How to Book The Dragon Tower
To book, look at the calendar on The Dragon Tower website and then get in touch with Tracey and Guy through email. There is a two-night minimum stay, and check-in is only available on Friday, Sunday and Tuesday. A two-night stay will set you back £220, and a three-night stay is discounted at £300.
Things to Do Near The Dragon Tower
Surrounded by the rolling hills of the Flintshire countryside, you’ll find plenty of things to do around Dragon Tower, from local walks to a vibrant Welsh town and a charming medieval city. Mold is the nearest town, sitting roughly four miles away. It’s a bustling little town with a street market operating on Saturdays. The strangest thing about Mold was the accents – a mix of Welsh, English and unmistakable Liverpudlian. The town has some great pubs and restaurants, and if you’re looking for somewhere to eat, we recommend The Fat Boar, where you’ll feel like a fat boar after scoffing your face!
Slightly further afield is Chester – the beautiful medieval city with an incredible cathedral, city walls and an excellent indoor food market. We spent two nights at The Dragon Tower. It was enough to enable us to explore Mold and Chester, but we’d have liked an extra day to explore the local area on foot from the tower. You’ll also notice the lack of light pollution due to the remote location of The Dragon Tower. The skies were clear the first night, and the stars were out in force – a rare sight in today’s modern world.
Finally, here’s a video of The Dragon Tower on George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces. Fast forward to 2:30 to see Guy, Tracey, and George Clarke and a glimpse into this unique stay.
The Dragon Tower
- What’s Inside
- The Moving Wall
- Maggon the Dragon
- How to Book The Dragon Tower
- Things to Do Near The Dragon Tower
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