Cruella's 'home' up for sale

The house which inspired the fictional home of Cruella

The Essex mansion that inspired the screen home of 101 Dalmations' wicked Cruella de Vil is up for sale.

The magnificent architecture of 18th century Greys Hall in Sible Hedingham was used by the writer Dodie Smith - author of 101 Dalmatians - as the model for the spooky lair of the evil puppy-snatcher.

The wicked Cruella is one of children's fiction's scariest villainesses.

Miss Smith, who lived in nearby Finchingfield, died 12 years ago at the age of 94.

Listed building

She wrote 101 Dalmatians in 1956. The story became a Disney cartoon in 1961, and a Disney feature film, starring Glenn Close, in 1996.

Greys Hall was built in 1714 by the then-rector of St Peter's Church that stands next to the house.

The family home is set in its own grounds of nearly half an acre in the heart of the old Essex village.

The house, with six bedrooms and four bathrooms, is on the market for £695,000.