BIDDERS with a keen eye for the unusual and those with an interest in a substantial investment were well rewarded last year.

Paul Fosh, of Newport-based Paul Fosh Auctions, said about 2014: “It’s fair to say that things started off fairly slowly but gained momentum as the months progressed ending on a positively strong note which all augurs well for 2015.

“Interest in traditional owner investment and buy-to-let type properties in the South Wales Valleys remained strong but there was also a distinct appetite for larger commercial properties which was illustrated at the last sale of the year with the interest generated in the sale of the substantial Newbridge House property in Abergavenny.

“We are looking to develop this part of the business further in 2015 and beyond have bolstered our team to concentrate in this sector. We will therefore be bringing a range of this type of commercial property to our auction sales over the coming months.”

One star attraction of 2014 was the sale of a two-storey, 19th century grade II listed stone-built, sea-front watchtower.

The unique property in Barry, which dates from 1860 and which had a guide price of £1,000, eventually sold for 60 times that figure achieving £60,000.

The watchtower was sold after fierce bidding in the auction room between some dozen individual bidders, four on the telephone and a proxy bid.

Paul Fosh said: “It was a phenomenal and memorable night. The room was packed. The owner of the watchtower, Vale of Glamorgan County Council, was absolutely delighted with the price achieved.

“In reality, as it was a unique and unusual building, it was difficult to know how much it would achieve at auction. It may just have made a couple of thousand pounds but in the end the watchtower really caught people’s imagination to such an extent that it reached a truly remarkable figure of £60,000.

The new owner is a London-based architect who has strong family connections with Barry who is said to have ‘popped’ into the auction as he was passing.

Another memorable lot was the sale of a former quarry and land amounting to 220 acres at Trefil, near Tredegar on the Heads of the Valleys road.

The quarry, which has been used for filming the likes of Dr Who, A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Liam Neeson’s Wrath of the Titans, created a flurry of interest both at home and abroad.

Listed with a guide price of £45,000 the land was sold immediately prior to the sale to a local investor for what is believed to have been twice the guide.

Meanwhile the former servants quarters at historic Ruperra Castle secreted in the depths of the south Wales countryside was also on the market this year.

The building, adjacent to the Grade II listed ‘mock’ castle built in 1626 by Sir Thomas Morgan, had a guide price of £50,000 was however taken out prior to auction following a deal struck with the previous owner.

At the other end of the scale one of the cheapest houses on sale in the Britain came up for auction at the start of the year. Listed at £8,000, the price of a very decent second hand car, the tiny, dilapidated, one up, one down terraced house, in the former mining town of Brynmawr was snapped up after keen interest at the auction for £15,500.

The new owner of 3 King Street, Brynmawr, Graham Porter, from Stratford Upon Avon, said: “I am going to turn this house into a little gem. I expect I will have to invest maybe £15-20,000 doing the place up, building an extension and bringing the toilet inside but after that it will be perfect. A nice little home.”

Commercial properties are becoming increasingly popular among investors and this was very much the case in 2014.

Among local properties sold in the year was the Riverview Club, at Lower Dock Street, Newport, which was sold for £111,000 after being guided at £60,000.

Another wasNewbridge House, at Tudor Street, Abergavenny, a substantial detached purpose-built office block with car parking, sited on the edge of the busy town centre, sold for £440,000 against a guide price of £390,000.

The red brick building, over three storeys offering 9,747 sq ft, is let in its entirety to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

Other commercial properties sold during the year included the former Peacocks Store at 148-150 Chepstow Road, which sold for £141,000 and a former chapel at Ty Cwm, River Row, Cwm, Ebbw Vale, which until recently was used as a 24-bedroom care home but subject to planned suitable for conversion n for other commercial uses, sold for £100,000 on a guide price of £70,000.