FOR sale in Stiffkey, Norfolk is this pretty cottage which belonged to Henry Williamson, the children's author who penned the famous novel Tarka the Otter.

Despite its popularity, the cottage's current owners have always resisted having a blue plaque up in honour of Williamson.

Henry Cockerton, who is selling the property for a guide price of £575,000 with Brown & Co Cockertons estate agents in Holt, Norfolk said: "The property is charming and includes a lovely garden, river frontage and the brick and flint studio we believe Henry Williamson used to write in.

Somerset County Gazette: AUTHOR'S PARADISE: A cottage belonging to the children's author who penned the famous novel Tarka the Otter has gone on sale for £575,000. Picture: SWNS

"Over the past 30 years the owners have resisted to have a blue plaque on the building but I feel now is the time to tell the world!"

London-born Henry Williamson came to Norfolk about a decade after his book Tarka the Otter was published in 1927.

The tale is the classic story of an otter living in the Devonshire countryside which captures the feel of life in the wild as seen through the otter's own eyes.

Williamson bought the cottage, part of the then derelict 240 acre Old Hall Farm in 1936 and his experiences there formed the basis of the author’s book The Story of a Norfolk Farm.

The three-bedroom cottage set in about one third of an acre of grounds, was where the author actually lived, being the main house for the farm.

It boasts a beautiful garden with a river frontage and is now being sold away from the farm.

Over the years the cottage was once lived in by a gamekeeper and about ten ears ago, was modernised and has been rented but in recent years, was an occasional residence for the owner.

In 1946, Williamson moved to Devon where he bought a wooden hut where he wrote many of his later books, often sitting alone there for 15 hours a day.

This wooden writing hut was granted Grade II listed status by English Heritage in 2014 because of its ‘historical interest.’

Somerset County Gazette: AUTHOR'S PARADISE: A cottage belonging to the children's author who penned the famous novel Tarka the Otter has gone on sale for £575,000. Picture: SWNS