THREE historic forts built in the Solent in the 1860s are up for sale, and you can bag all three for the paltry sum of £9 million ­— one less dint in the pocket, right?

The three forts are being sold by entrepreneur, Mike Clare, founder of Dreams ­— the bed company.

They were built by Prime Minister Lord Palmerston when the country feared invasion by the French.

By the time they had been completed, the Gallic threat had gone and they became known as Palmerston’s Follies.

Two of the forts for sale ­— No Man’s Fort and Spitbank Fort ­— have been painstakingly redeveloped into exclusive hotels.

The third, Horse Sand Fort, is currently used to record the history of the follies and retains the 100 chambers and living quarters, original gun carriages and armour plated walls.

The two hotels are being sold through global real estate advisor Colliers and the freehold estimate for them combined is more than £8 million.

Horse Sand Fort is being sold by auction through Clive Emson Land and Property Auctioneers with bids starting at £750,000.

Paul Barrasford, director in Colliers International’s hotels agency team, said: “This is an incredible opportunity to acquire two of the most remarkable properties to come to the market in recent years.

“They took 20 years to build but were never used in battle as intended ­— instead they were repurposed as temporary army barracks before being decommissioned by the Ministry of Defence in 1956.”

Rob Marchant, auctioneer at Clive Emson, said: “We sold one of these forts to Mike Clare’s company ten years ago.

“That was Spitbank Fort which has been completely renovated. We are now offering Horse Sand Fort that has huge potential.

“We sell some incredible land and properties at our actions but these forts must be among the most historically interesting."

No Man’s Fort has been transformed to create a 4-star island hotel, where guests can hire the entire venue exclusively for weddings, corporate events and celebrations.

It has 23 en suite guest bedrooms, staff quarters, a restaurant, five themed bars, laser battle play area and a spa.

The fort has 99,000 square feet over four floors and includes a lighthouse with private dining, rooftop hot tubs, sauna, fire pit, hot pool and helipad.

Spitbank Fort is even posher, with nine luxury guest suites plus staff accommodation, events spaces including a restaurant, two bars and a wine cave.

Totalling some 33,000 square feet over three floors, it has a maximum capacity of 60 and features an open central courtyard, plus roof top terrace including a sauna, fire pit and hot pool.

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