Aldworth House was designed as an escape for Tennyson during the summer months, away from the "trippers" which surrounded his home on the Isle of Wight.

He loved the view from his 60 acre estate on Black Down, near Haslemere in Surrey, which looks out at the Sussex Weald and Downs and stretches to the English Channel, 40 miles away.

In his poem Prologue, To General Hamley, Tennyson wrote: "You came, and looked and loved the view, Long-known and loved by me, Green Sussex fading into blue, With one gray glimpse of sea."

Built in 1869 by Sir John Knowles on the site of an old smugglers' inn, Aldworth House is a Grade One listed French-style Gothic house, made from sandstone.

When it was built, the house included the modern luxury of piped hot water and Tennyson used to enjoy at least three baths a day.

He loved the private setting and stayed clear of the local inhabitants, inviting literary friends such as George Eliot and Henry James to stay when he desired company.

Tennyson died at Aldworth in 1892 and was found holding a book of Shakespeare in his hand.