Skip to content

Roger Deakin: Home of nature author up for sale for £1.5m

BBC Roger DeakinBBC
Roger Deakin died aged 63 in 2006

The former home of author and environmentalist Roger Deakin has been put on the market for £1.5m.

Deakin, who died aged 63 in 2006, had lived in the 16th Century cottage in Mellis, Suffolk, for almost 40 years.

It was "covered in mouldering thatch" when he found it in 1969, the estate agent said, but later renovated it.

Deakin once wrote of his home: "An old house may be built of the humblest, simplest materials, and, like a bird's nest, be a thing of great beauty."

Estate agency Inigo said Deakin was "smitten" straightaway with the farmhouse, which had not been lived in for almost 20 years before he bought it, and by September 1970 was its owner.

After a "whirlwind of restoration and learning of new crafts", his home was complete by the mid-70s.

Inigo Walnut Tree Farm in Mellis, near Eye, SuffolkInigo
Deakin had renovated the house after discovering it in the late 1960s
Inigo The inside of Walnut Tree Farm in Mellis, near Eye, SuffolkInigo
It became the author's home for almost 40 years

In its marketing brochure, the estate agent said: "Set among 12 acres of wide stretching meadows on Mellis Common in the heart of the Suffolk countryside, Grade II-listed Walnut Tree Farm is held in loving reverence by many.

"Known from the eponymous book, Notes from Walnut Tree Farm, the house was the home of the well-loved author, artist and environmentalist Roger Deakin."

Since his death, the current owners, who spent time at the house as children, have been the "careful stewards" of its heritage, it said.

Inigo Inside Walnut Tree Farm in Mellis, near Eye, SuffolkInigo
Deakin had written about his home in Notes from Walnut Tree Farm
Inigo Inside Walnut Tree Farm in Mellis, near Eye, SuffolkInigo
"An old house may be built of the humblest, simplest materials, and, like a bird's nest, be a thing of great beauty," the author had written

Deakin, who wrote Waterlog: A Swimmer's Journey Through Britain, spoke about his home and its garden on BBC Radio 4 programmes The House and The Garden.

In addition to the house, there are also three other living spaces outside, a railway wagon, an outhouse and a shepherd's hut.

Inigo Mellis Common, SuffolkInigo
The Grade II-listed farmhouse is set among 12 acres (five hectares) of wide stretching meadows on Mellis Common
Inigo Inside Walnut Tree Farm in Mellis, near Eye, SuffolkInigo
The cottage dates back to the 16th Century

Inigo said the railway wagon, which was rescued and installed at the farm in the 1980s, had been used as guest accommodation by the current owners, hosting many "Deakinites" on pilgrimage.

While the outhouse "takes in incredible views of the long field stretching to what almost seems the horizon", the shepherd's hut was where Deakin often decamped to write and "avoid the permanence of a house which he thought hindered his best inspiration".

The interiors have been preserved in original form and feature, it added.

Inigo The shepherd's hut on Walnut Tree Farm in Mellis, near Eye, SuffolkInigo
The shepherd's hut was where Deakin often decamped to write, the estate agents said
presentational grey line

Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Got a story? Email [email protected] or WhatsApp us on 0800 169 1830