Take a look inside picturesque cottage which inspired Goldilocks and Three Bears… and could be yours for a cool £1m

A COUNTRY cottage which will suit even the pickiest of people has just gone on the market.

This picturesque thatched property is where author Robert Southey wrote the fairytale Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

From the outside the property in the village of Burton, near Christchurch, Dorset, looks much like it would have at the start of the 19th century.

But inside it is a contemporary dream that even fussy Goldilocks would struggle to find fault with.

The £1.15million home has a breakfast room perfect for tucking in to a bowl of porridge – however you like it – and comes with four bedrooms, enough to accommodate all the bears and Goldilocks.

It is less than two miles from the New Forest so the new owner could even go for a walk in the woods while their porridge cools down, just like the three bears did.

The popular folk tale of a family of bears and an unwanted guest was most likely told to Southey as a child by his uncle William Tyler.

Southey owned Burton Cottage between 1799 and 1805. He first told the story to friends by 1813 but it wasn’t published as a book until 1837 when his prose collection, The Doctor, was published anonymously.

Southey, who was also a literary scholar, historian and biographer, originally called it The Story Of The Three Bears.

In the original version Southey’s bears were three ‘bachelors’ and instead of Goldilocks there was an ugly old woman sampling their porridge, sitting in their chairs and sleeping in their beds.

But the story gradually changed with the old woman becoming a little girl and the bachelor bears becoming a family with a daddy, mummy and baby bear. The title also changed to Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Southey was a prolific letter writer and many of his letters and early manuscript drafts were found in the cellar of this house.

In one letter to his younger brother Tom in 1799, he wrote about his new home which he called a palace saying: “I have been to Biddlecombe’s (a friend who lived in Christchurch) and surveyed Southey Palace that is to be.”

He had bought the home’s two adjoining cottages and turned them into one bigger home for himself and his wife Edith.

They later moved to Greta Hall, in Keswick in the Lake District, where Southey spent the largest part of his adult life.

Burton Cottage has 2,929sq ft of accommodation with a large reception hall, lounge, kitchen, breakfast room, dining room, family/cinema room and four bedrooms – and is on the market with Lovett International Estate Agents.

The contemporary style of the house is complimented by some beautiful character features. Outside it has wrap around secluded gardens with a sun veranda, decked terrace and courtyard.

Maximillian De Kment, chief executive of Lovett, said: “Burton Cottage is stunning inside and out. It is a property that boasts luxury, history, heritage and charm – you don’t see homes with all these wow-factors, every day.

“This is a rare opportunity to purchase a unique property in the beautiful countryside of Dorset. It would make a fantastic family home.

“Southey began writing the story in the house and it acted as his inspiration – the house in the woods.”