Sherlock Holmes fans, assemble: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s old haunt is up for sale. Bignell Wood, a rural retreat in the New Forest, Hampshire, was one of the author’s main abodes between 1925 and 1930.
It’s believed that his wife Jean Leckie loved the property so much that the esteemed writer decided to buy it as a gift for her.
Interior designer Jane McIntyre and her family have lived in the property for the past 16 years and have now decided to put it on the market. When McIntyre first moved in, the building was in a pretty dire state but has now been restored with modern-day fittings, featuring some nods to the author.
One of the rooms, for example, is painted in red in a nod to Doyle’s ‘A Study in Scarlet’, which he may have written in that very room.
The property also has some not-so desirable features (or desirable, depending on who’s looking). The author is believed to have carried out seances in the house, and since his death, some occupants have said they’ve heard footsteps in the attic. According to a BBC video, some guests claimed to have even seen a ghost of the author himself.
The house has an asking price of £2.9 million. You can find out more on the official property listing here.
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