A farmer has lost a nine-year legal battle to save the dream home he built without planning permission and hid behind hay bales for four years . Robert Fidler , 66 , secretly constructed the mock-Tudor castle complete with battlements and cannons and lived there with his family from 2002 . He unveiled it officially in 2006 when he thought he would be able to exploit a legal loophole that prevents enforcement action against a structure if no objections have been made for at least four years . Scroll down for video . Robert Fidler has lost a nine-year legal battle to save the dream home ( above ) he built in Salfords , Surrey , without planning permission and hid behind hay bales for four years . But the local authority immediately laid siege by refusing to grant retrospective permission . Now , after numerous court appearances costing tens of thousands of pounds , Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has finally ruled the four-bedroom home on Green Belt land at Honeycrocks Farm in Salfords , Surrey – worth well in excess of £1million if sold on the open market - must be pulled down within 90 days . Mr Fidler yesterday compared the situation to an artist being made to destroy a piece of work . ‘ It would be like Rembrandt being asked to rip up his masterpiece of an oil painting or something for me to demolish it , ’ he complained . He added : ‘ I don ’ t think I have any choice , to be honest . What they ’ re saying now is if I don ’ t demolish it in 90 days they ’ ll put me in prison. ’ Mr Fidler started as a tenant farmer at Honeycrock Farm in the 1970s and bought the farmyard and ten acres of land in 1985 . There was no farmhouse , however , so from 2000 he began building the house around two grain silos at a cost of £50,000 . Features include weathered brick and stone , carved wooden pillars and beams and a stained-glass dome above the stairwell . The 66-year-old used dozens of hay bales , blue tarpaulin and tyres to hide the house ( above ) from 2002 to 2006 . Mr Fidler , pictured ( above ) outside the house , compared the situation to an artist being made to destroy a piece of work . Mr Fidler and his wife , Linda , went to such lengths to hoodwink locals and the authorities that they kept their son Harry , now 14 , off playschool on the day his class were due to paint scenes of their homes . ‘ We couldn ’ t have him drawing a big blue haystack – people might have asked questions , ’ Mrs Fidler explained previously . Neighbours expressed anger at the brazenness of the plan when the property ’ s existence was declared . One said : ‘ It was a complete shock when the hay came down and this castle was in its place . Everyone else has to abide by planning laws , so why shouldn ’ t they ? ’ Reigate and Banstead Borough Council served an enforcement notice requiring it be razed to the ground , claiming the four-year period after which the building would be allowed to stay was void as no one had been able to see it . Mr Fidler , who has five children from a previous marriage , appealed to the Planning Inspectorate which found in favour of the council because the property had not been ‘ substantially complete ’ for the four years required . Mr Fidler and his wife , Linda ( above ) , went to such lengths to hoodwink locals and the authorities that they kept their son Harry , now 14 , off playschool on the day his class were due to paint scenes of their homes . The four-bedroom house , complete with chandeliers , would be worth well in excess of £1million if sold on the open market - but it must be pulled down within 90 days . Features include weathered brick and stone , carved wooden pillars and beams , and a stained-glass dome above the stairwell . This was a reference to the bales and tarpaulins that had been used to conceal it , meaning the project had effectively continued after 2002 . The farmer then took his case to the High Court in 2009 and to the Court of Appeal the following year , both of which dismissed his challenge . Further delays were caused when he submitted applications for the house to be retained for agricultural use . He claimed it was needed to provide accommodation for a worker in connection with a beef farming business on the site . These were rejected by the Planning Inspectorate last year but another appeal was heard in a Public Inquiry before Eric Pickles , the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government , intervened and dismissed the claim , which raised ‘ important or novel issues of development control and/or legal difficulties. ’ A council spokesman yesterday said it had a ‘ duty ’ to uphold planning rules designed to protect the Green Belt . He added : ‘ The Secretary of State ’ s decision demonstrates that people who ignore planning rules for the good of everyone are likely to find themselves in this unfortunate position . ’
Robert Fidler has lived in flats in Salfords , uk , since 2002 with family . planting bales of straw to disguise the building before unveiling it in 2006 . Tried to exploit loophole that allows closure if no longer for four years . 66-year - old must now buy the four - bedroom house worth £ 1million .