The Granary has associations with the best-selling book War Horse. Courtesy: Jackson-Stops & Staff
The Granary has associations with the best-selling book War Horse. Courtesy: Jackson-Stops & Staff

"War Horse" house with history and a little stardust



Fans of a best-selling book, play and film now have the chance to own a home with connections to the story.

The Granary, a property in the Devon countryside, is located in Iddesleigh, the hometown of War Horse author Michael Morpurgo.

His best-selling book was first published in 1982 and adapted for the stage in 2007. It has now been made into an epic film of the same name directed by Steven Spielberg.

In the book, Morpurgo credits Nethercott House, a farm The Granary was once part of, and its people, as the inspiration for the First World War tale about a young boy who enlists in the army after his horse is sold to the cavalry.

The story goes that Morpurgo met a First World War veteran in Iddesleigh, who described the special bond between soldiers and their horses in battle. The author then met another man who remembered the army visiting the village to buy horses.

The 17th-century property is set in large grounds and looks like something out of a picture postcard, with pebble-dashed, whitewashed walls and wooden doors.

The house is on the market with a guide price of £600,000 (Dh3,490,152). It was converted in 1998 but has many original features, such as wooden beams.

It has three bedrooms, a drawing room, breakfast room, sitting room, study, two bathrooms and a double garage/workshop with an office.

The property, which is on the market through agent Jackson-Stops & Staff, sits in more than six acres with paddocks, an arboretum and pond. The Exmoor National Park, which was once a royal forest and hunting ground, is within easy reach to the north, while Dartmoor National Park is to the south.

The picturesque north Devon coast, which is popular with surfers, is also nearby.

Out through a back gate and over the fields lies the Tarka Trail, a network of pathways and bridleways for horse riding.

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