Lady Chatterley's grand home with a racy reputation

The Life: The grand house that provided the inspiration for the controversial novel Lady Chatterley's Lover is up for sale at £1 million.

Teversal Manor, the inspiration for DH Lawrence'sLady Chatterley's Lover, has gone on the market for £1 million. Courtesy Savills

The sales particulars make no mention of the domestics employed at this grand grade II-listed Nottinghamshire mansion. But anyone who knows it better as the house that provided inspiration for DH Lawrence's infamous racy 1928 novel Lady Chatterley's Lover might want to inquire if it comes with a gamekeeper.

The six-bedroom Teversal Manor near Mansfield, set in 16.9 acres of formal gardens, has gone on the market for £1 million (Dh5.5m).

In the novel, banned in Britain for 32 years because of its graphic descriptions of a relationship between the lady of the house and her gamekeeper, Lady Constance Chatterley and her lover sneak around Wragby Hall. It is described in the book as "a long, low old house in brown stone begun about the middle of the 18th century and added on to until it was a warren of places."

The house is located close to the village of Teversal, while the fictional house is situated in the village of Tevershall.

The estate agent Savills, which is marketing the house, describes it as "in need of updating and improvement", but praises its five south-facing reception rooms.

DH Lawrence, who was born in the nearby village of Eastwood, is believed to have taken inspiration from the house when walking in the local area.

After its publication in 1928, Lady Chatterley's Loverwas banned in the UK for its graphic sexual descriptions and its use of bad language.

Then, in 1960, Penguin Books was taken to court under the UK's Obscene Publications Act for publishing an unexpurgated version of the book. The law, however, allowed publishers to escape conviction if they could show that a work was of literary merit and a jury decided in favour of Penguin.

The book has been adapted for film and TV, perhaps most famously in 1993 by the BBC in a Ken Russell-directed production starring Sean Bean and Joely Richardson.

A Savills spokeswoman was unable to provide any descriptions of Sean Bean lookalikes working on the property. She did confirm, alas, that there is no gamekeeper.