A charming 16th Century village house owned by a broadcaster is on the market for a cool £2 million.

Househunters with an appetite for character and timely properties need look no further than Wings Place in Ditchling – a beautiful Tudor manor belonging to TV and radio presenter Jamie Theakston.

Theakston, who was born in the village, used to attend the primary school across the green from the house and admitted he fulfilled a “boyhood dream” when he bought the Grade I listed property ten years ago.

The immaculate house boasts five bedrooms over three floors including two en-suites, a sitting room, study, kitchen, drawing room, library, a triple garage, wine cellar and an acre of luscious green garden.

Picturesque Estate agents Savills say the property is one of the very few Grade I listed houses in private ownership in the county.

It was once described by lauded architect Nikolaus Pevsner as “eminently picturesque in a watercolourist’s way”.

History buffs will be pleased to hear the home stands on a site that has been inhabited for more than 1,000 years.

Over this period of time, it was owned by Henry VIII, who granted it to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, as part of his divorce settlement in the 1500s.

Having moved permanently to London thanks to a glittering TV and radio career, Theakston said he bought Wings Place so he could “get away” from the capital.

But he admitted he was now in the “same position as the previous owner” and just “did not have time to use it anymore”.

The property is also blessed with the picturesque backdrop of the South Downs, which has become a conservation area since Theakston snapped the property up.

He told a national newspaper: “It’s been designated a national park.

“Anyone trying to build a new property there is on a hiding to nothing.

“I think it’s one of only two Tudor manor houses like this in East Sussex.

“They just aren’t making them anymore.”

The property has an abundance of alluring period features including solid oak carved double doors which open to a vaulted ‘guard room’.

The room functions as an entrance hall with flagstone floor overlooked by a towering timber framed roof.

Elsewhere brick chimneys, leaded light casement windows and original fireplaces make the property a once-in-a-lifetime pur¬ chase for anyone with £1.95 million to spare.

For further information on Wings Place, contact Sophie Wysock-Wright, head of residential at Savills Haywards Heath, on 01444 44600.