/ 5 May 2006

For sale: One Victorian house, with tortoise

She’s seen owners come and go, but the tortoise in the garden of a five-bedroom Victorian terrace house on sale in Exeter, south-west England, should not be changing address any time soon.

Eliza has been living at the Prospect Park property, near the local university, since at least World War II — and whoever buys the house from current owners Andrew and Helen Proctor will inherit her.

”I do feel that this is her home as she has been here for such a long time and is safe here,” said Helen (43), whose family — including two young children — has lived in the house for the past six years.

The three-storey house is listed at £354 950 (about R4-million) and local real-estate firm Palmer Collins has thoughtfully added a photo of Eliza on its website.

”We have never known a property with a tortoise as a sitting tenant before,” a spokesperson for the firm said. — Sapa-AFP