How often have we heard the saying ‘living the dream’, imagine if you can live in one of your favourite author’s house or the place where your most loved literary piece was created. Well, now you can, provided you can meet the financial requirements.
Traditional Deià home, Mallorca, Spain
Situated on the west coast of Mallorca, it is a 41-minute drive to Palma and 40 minutes to Mallorca International Airport. It is a traditional Deià-style home with nine bedrooms constructed in 1860. It has a stone courtyard and comes with lemon groves and gardens. The house also offers views of Tramuntana Mountains. This was the home to the writer Robert Graves, who moved here after in 1932 and returned in 1946.
Aston Rise, Henley-on-Thames, UK
Located on the outskirts of Henley-on-Thames, it is a 25-minute drive to Windsor. A period property with five bedrooms dating to the 1890s. It includes a conservatory, roof terrace, five-acre grounds and a one-bedroom cottage in the garden. Henley-on-Thames was home to US author James Blish, who was best known for writing the Star Trek books and Cities in Flight novels.
The Importance of Being Earnest on Half Moon Street, Mayfair, London, UK
This four-bedroom, stucco-fronted townhouse was the inspiration behind Oscar Wilde’s most famous play, The Importance of Being Ernest. The bachelor pad of one of the play’s main characters, Algernon Moncrieff, a frequently used setting in the play, was based on this property for sale on Half Moon Street. Although now one of the most prestigious addresses in London, back in Wilde’s time, the area was a haven for young, artistic bohemians.
Find The Hundred Acre Wood on Mallord Street, Chelsea, London, UK
This enchanting Arts and Crafts style home is located on the same prestigious Chelsea road as the former home of Winnie-the-Pooh creator, A. A. Milne, who lived there with his family for over 20 years. Mallord Street was not only where the real-life Christopher Robin (A. A. Milne’s son) was born and grew up, but where Winnie-the-Pooh made his first appearance in a collection of children’s poems, When We Were Very Young, published in 1924.
Stanbury, West Yorkshire, UK
Ponden Hall, an award-winning B&B, may have been the inspiration for Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Supposedly, the Brontë sisters spent time at the house, which was owned by family friends. According to locals, the tiny single-paned window is where Cathy furiously scratched at the glass in the east wing, which dates back to 1541.
Norwich, Norfolk, UK
A duo of apartment blocks, named after the authors Anna Sewell and Sir Philip Pullman, are springing up in central Norwich. The complex is on the site of the former printworks where Sewell’s classic Black Beauty was printed just five months before the author died. Fantasy writer Pullman, whose works include the trilogy His Dark Materials, was born in the city and is a life-long Norwich City fan. He inspires the second block. Both, in St James Quay, will deliver one- and two-bedroom apartments and two- and three-bedroom penthouses.
