Knoll House Hotel, which has just been put on the market for an asking price of £15m, is a traditional 1930s-style property, set in approximately 4.33 acres overlooking Studland Bay. But what distinguishes it from other properties on this beautiful three-mile stretch of Dorset coastline is that Knoll House was once the favourite hotel of children's author Enid Blyton.

The author began visiting Knoll House in the 1950s. In those days, the hotel had just six bedrooms and Enid Blyton and her husband always had the best one, overlooking the beach and the bay beyond. It was while she was staying at Knoll House that she discovered nearby Brownsea Island, said to have inspired Whispering Island in Five Have A Mystery to Solve. Another of her novels features Tilly Whim Caves near Swanage.

Knoll House was bought by Kenneth and Pauline Ferguson in 1959 and over the years it has been extended it into an 84-room seaside resort with a nine-hotel pitch and putt golf course, an adventure playground, a health spa and outdoor pool terrace. It's still run by second and third generations of the Ferguson family but they have decided it's time someone else had the chance to breathe new life into the hotel.

Certainly, Knoll House's location, surrounded by protected landscapes and just yards from the beach, is very rare. Plus, of course, it's not every day a property that has inspired one of the world's best-loved authors comes up for sale.