New Forest woodland house used as retreat by Sherlock Holmes author for sale

WATCH: ITV Meridian's Richard Slee has taken a look around the house.

A house in the New Forest which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used as a retreat, has been put on the market at just under £3 million.

It's believed the Sherlock Holmes creator regularly used Bignell Wood, at Brook near Lyndhurst, from 1924 to 1930, after buying it as a birthday present for his second wife Jean.

The Estate Agent, Spencers, said Sir Arthur was first drawn to the New Forest in Hampshire while researching for his book, The White Company, a historical adventure published in 1891 set during the Hundred Years’ War.

Minstead, about two miles north of Lyndhurst, was referred to several time in the book, and Sir Arthur and Jean are buried in the churchyard of All Saints in the village.

The detached cottage, with an asking price of £2,950,000, has eight bedrooms, seven bathrooms and 10 living rooms.

Other amenities include a terrace, music studio, a greenhouse, garage and workshop, a barn with three stables and around six acres of woodlands which surround the house.

One of the standout features of the property has its “own private wooden walkway across the stream”, which has a “winding path” leading to the entrance.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle still has a presence in the house. On a wall in the dining room there is his image, with an inscription written by his daughter saying 'I would love this picture of my father to hang in Bignell Wood.  He was always very happy here'.

The author still owned the house when he died in 1930. He was buried in the grounds of his estate in Crowborough in East Sussex.

When the estate was sold out of the family in 1955, he was re-interred, along with his wife Jean, at All Saints' churchyard in Minstead. Tributes continue to be left on his tombstone there.