The historic Georgian property known as 'the home of poets,' is on sale in Keswick.

Jeronime Palmer, the woman who lives at Greta Hall, has put the Lakeland home on the market for £1.2 million and has said she will only sell it to someone who understands it's literary connections. Previously the home of Lakes poets, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey this is only the second time in a 100 years that a Grade I listed building has been put up for sale and is naturally generating a lot of interest. Robert Southey once wrote that it was "Possibly the finest, single spot in England."

Ms Palmer said she is seeking assurances that it will continue to be used as a single home or a residential letting once it is sold: “It has to be the right custodian,” said Ms Palmer. “Somebody who understands its literary connections and its value to the Keswick community,” she explained.

Ms Palmer and Scott Ligertwood bought the property and The Coach House in its grounds 23 years ago. The Greta Hall buildings had been used as dormitories by school boarders but when the school moved to a single site at Lairthwaite, the property was put up for sale along with the Rawnsley Centre. The Hall has three kitchens, three bathrooms and 11 bedrooms spread over its three floors and since 1998 has provided bed and breakfast accommodation and short-term holiday lets. It has also been used by local organisations and museums for community events. “We have had a remarkable time at Greta Hall," said Ms Palmer, "But it would break my heart if it was sold to somebody who does not appreciate it."

Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge lived at Greta Hall with his family from1800 to 1803. His daughter Sara was born at Greta Hall in 1802 and he regularly visited William Wordsworth at Grasmere. Robert Southey and his wife came to stay with the Coleridges in 1803 and took over the tenancy of Greta Hall when Coleridge left in 1804. Southey lived there until his death in 1843. Greta Hall was visited by many great artists and other literary figures including Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy, William Hazlitt, Lord Byron, John Keats, Percy Shelley, Sir Walter Scott, Sir George Beaumont, Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb, Thomas De Quincey and John Ruskin.