The £3.5 million former house of one of Hollywood's biggest stars is up for sale in Sussex.

Tickerage Mill - Gone With The Wind actress Vivien Leigh's retreat - was bought by the actress for £20,000 in 1961, and although she owned a flat in London her hideaway in the county was thought to be her true love.

The estate in Blackboys near Uckfield boasts its own ancient bluebell wood and separate cottage alongside the main, five-bedroom mansion which Leigh bought after her divorce from Laurence Olivier.

It is thought she entertained a number of famous guests at the home including Princess Margaret, John Gielgud, John Merivale, Winston Churchill and Robert Helpman who designed the garden.

Over the years, Tickerage Mill has attracted many illustrious owners.

The artist Richard Wyndham, who purchased the property in the 1920s, added what is now the kitchen as his artist's studio with a large oriel window overlooking the mill pond.

Sir Ronald Armstrong Jones - Lord Snowdon's father - and Kenneth Letts the manufacturer of Letts Diaries were also previous residents.

The walled garden remains as a stand-out feature of Tickerage Mill, which is Grade II listed and comes with nine hectares of land.

A gardener's cottage and ancient bluebell wood are included in the £3.5 million asking price for the estate, but they may be sold separately.

The present owners, Ken and Honor Hoggins, have lived there since 2005 and have kept the memory if its most famous owner alive.

One memento of Leigh is the marble fireplace in the master bedroom, which Leigh had shipped back from Venice.

In 1967, at the age of 53, she died of tuberculosis after falling ill during rehearsals for a play in the West End and her ashes were scattered on the pond at Tickerage.

Agent Sophie Wysock-Wright of Savills in Haywards Heath told a national newspaper: “If a terraced house had been owned by John Lennon, it would obviously sell for more than similar houses on the same street.

“With Tickerage, any added value would probably be emotional rather than financial.

“It would be the fact that the house was an old country mill, which are always sought after, as much as the Vivien Leigh connection, which would tempt potential buyers.”