Watchtower fitted bill for couple on lookout for 'dream' family home

WHEN people see the Tynemouth Watchtower looking out over Longsands Beach, few will envision it as a living space.

- DANIEL HALL

Jaemi and Roly Glancy, pictured with their dog Mya, are going to restore the Tynemouth watchtower (below) into a family home Roly loves the powder blue bathroom with a sunken bath but even this will be modernised

However, a North East couple recognised the potential and are set to transform the seven-storey building into their dream family home.

Roly Glancy and his wife Jaemi have swapped their semidetached house in Cullercoats for the Grade-II listed building, initially built as part of the UK’s coastal defences in World War I. But now, instead of soldiers looking out to sea to spot enemy craft, the Glancys and their three kids soak up views of the North Tyneside coast.

After a year of living there with their dog Kya, the watchtower whippet, the family are about to get their hands dirty - or at least covered in paint - as they update and modernise the interior. The couple, who used to run an architecture firm, say that they have designed over 2,000 house extensions but this is set to be their biggest challenge yet.