A BRIT ditched her house in Cornwall to live in a cave in Spain - and says there are surprising benefits.

       Matilda Kennard Troughton, 54, was looking for peace and quiet after years following a hectic work schedule as a wholesaler.

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       An 11th century salt store in Granada has been transformed into a modern cave house Credit: Mapping Spain 5

       Matilda Kennard Troughton quit the UK and opened a bird sanctuary in Spain Credit: Mapping Spain

       She was initially looking for a country house and travelled from Alicante to Malaga to view properties there.

       However, due to a "dreadful" road and a dislike for the busy coastal areas she decided not to return and carried on towards Granada.

       Then an estate agent showed Matilda one place he himself hadn't seen yet.

       She described approaching a "large yard with what looked like a garage door leant up against a hill" and said the keys were brought to her by a "tiny old man" on a tractor.

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       She told the Mapping Spain website: "The moment he opened up the door that was it, I fell in love with the place."

       The cave used to be an 11th-century salt warehouse which was carved out of the rock.

       She hired local builders to make it habitable, fitting plumbing, a kitchen, flooring, and electrics in just three months.

       It also has two floors although she says she has more space than she needs - so leaves the first floor for the bats which inhabit the cave.

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       Matilda explained each unique cave house in the area was designed and decorated to meet the requirements of the family that originally dug it out of the hillside.

       Most have a central hallway and then rooms to the left and right with more rooms leading further into the ground which are normally used as bedrooms.

       Matilda also revealed the perks of underground living.

       She said: "Cave houses maintain a temperature of about 20C throughout the year so they’re warm in the winter and cool in the summer, you could actually do without heating if you used thermal glass but it’s expensive.

       "These days many renovations include underfloor heating which is a more cost effective method to heat such large houses."

       She also believes that mica - a crystal found in the walls of caves - has a calming effect.

       She said: "Hence why you always sleep so well in a cave house, perhaps that and that it’s silent and dark as many bedrooms don’t have windows."

       And she added: "If there’s an earthquake cave dwellers don’t feel it as we are part of the movement rather than being balanced on top of it as with conventional builds.

       "There’s a misconception that caves fall down, if they’ve been created by somebody without experience of course they can, it’s just like having somebody with no building experience whip up a villa.

       "They need to be ventilated like any other house, they’re not damp unless you have a problem with water ingress which is very rare and everything around you is natural, no plasterboard, block walls or need for masses of concrete or cement apart from laying a tiled floor for ease.

       "Like all properties, you choose what would suit your needs, this one suits me perfectly."

       Bats are not the only creatures welcome in Matilda's cave, as she also has a wildlife sanctuary home to eagle owls and kestrels who have their own rooms in the cave.

       She said: "I’d dealt with birds all my life and would often be handed chicks to bring up as they’d fallen out of nests etc.

       "About five years ago I met a chap who was a falconer and he had the idea of doing bird of prey experiences, obviously I had a large enough house to share and there was also a large cave room in the corral garden that could be made into a mews for the birds.

       "He subsequently returned to the UK. So I’m left holding lots of babies, we had 166 rescues come in this spring for various reasons and 164 have been released back into the wild."

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       At the weekend we told how a couple from Wales bought a holiday home carved out of rock in Grenada.

       And another pair were dubbed the Welsh Flintstones after buying eight caves on holiday before doing them up.

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       Matilda says crystals in the cave walls help her sleep like a baby Credit: Mapping Spain 5

       The cave stays at a cosy 20C all year round Credit: Mapping Spain 5

       Builders added plumbing and electricity Credit: Mapping Spain