Comment: £2 million for a flat? Well, this is Harpenden!

Living in one of the most expensive counties in the country, we’re well used to crazy property prices.

£1 million for a Victorian semi with on-street parking and a micro garden? Yeah, whatever. £750,000 for a fixer-upper requiring a total internal renovation? Sounds fairly standard. After all, this is St Albans/Radlett/Hitchin, etc - what do you expect?

We've developed a sort of numbness to this madness, but occasionally an even higher-priced property comes along that really gets us talking: £2 million-plus for a three-bed flat is pretty pricey even by Harpenden standards.

This is no ordinary property, however: it's one of the apartments within the Grade II listed former Harpenden House Hotel building on Southdown Road.

Now known as Welcombe House, it's been painstakingly renovated to incorporate original period features alongside high end kitchens and bathrooms, plus a couple of underground parking spaces.

When I visited earlier this year it was still very much a building site, but two of the five properties had already been reserved off plan.

So whatever some may say about the prices being too steep, they're obviously not putting off buyers keen to secure a unique property in an undeniably excellent location.

It seems likely that the three remaining homes - the two-bed has an asking price of £1,700,000 while the two three-beds are priced at £1,875,000 and £2,120,000 - will also be snapped up by buyers with deep pockets and a desire to own a much-loved piece of Harpenden within a short walk of all the town's amenities.

Who wouldn't want to live opposite Harpenden Common if they could afford it? OK, maybe not everyone, but I can certainly see the appeal. If only I had a spare couple of mill…