Buy a magical real life gingerbread house in Massachusetts

In the rapidly-fading glow of the Easter long weekend, you might be daydreaming of ways you can escape the daily grind.  

So how about moving to the United States — Massachusetts, to be precise — and living in a rather magical gingerbread house?

Photo: Sotheby’s International.

There’s actually four structures for sale on this 1.6 hectare property — dubbed Santarella — for the also-fantasy-worthy amount of $US2.19 million ($2.8 million).

The lucky buyers will score 719 square metres of living space with seven bedrooms and six bathrooms in total, some lovingly landscaped gardens, a cottage for wedding-hosting and a separate studio.

Photo: Sotheby’s International.

Add in the 1750s colonial house, and the “Gingerbread House” itself, a barn that dates back to the late 19th century.

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It was renovated in the 1920s by Sir Henry Hudson Kitson, a sculptor who wanted it to resemble a British cottage. 

He went as far as roping in local farmers to grow rye for the thatching – although the cropped failed, which would have made a pretty entertaining early-20th-century episode of Grand Designs. 

Photo: Sotheby’s International.

Kitson eventually turned to asphalt for the roof, and also added historic features like stained glass windows to the other buildings, dialling the charm up to 11.

Since Kitson’s death in 1947 it has passed through three families, one of whom ran it as an art gallery.  The current owners have been hiring the property out for weddings, and presumably it would make quite a splash on Airbnb.

The property was last listed back in 2016, then for $US2 million. It’s now for sale through Sotheby’s International.

Photo: Sotheby’s International.

Photo: Sotheby’s International.

Photo: Sotheby’s International.

Photo: Sotheby’s International.