A PIECE of Ledbury's literary history is up for sale.

Hope End, near the site of poet Elizabeth Barrett-Browning's former home, is on the market for £1.5m.

The impressive eight-bedroom country mansion, at Wellington Heath, replaced the house commissioned by the poet's father, from the profits of his Jamaican plantations.

It is said his daughter's poetry was inspired by its exotic minarets, domes and surrounding greenery. The family fell on hard times after the death of Elizabeth's mother and they left the house in 1832.

It was later demolished, and replaced further up the valley, with the present Hope End, currently owned by Peter and Sharon Maiden.