Squatters invade 'Ratty's' home

Kenneth Grahame wrote Wind in the Willows in 1908

An Oxfordshire farmhouse on which the Wind in the Willows character Ratty's home was reputedly based has been taken over by a group of squatters.

Coombe End Farmhouse, a £2m, 13-bedroom property near Goring-on-Thames, was left to the National Trust in the 1930s and has been leased to tenants.

But the house has stood empty since 2006 and squatters took over in April.

The National Trust said it was trying to evict the group while assessing how to secure the future of the farmhouse.

The author of the children's classic, Kenneth Grahame, lived at Pangbourne in Berkshire, a short distance downstream from Coombe End Farmhouse.

The squatters have said they were protesting against the National Trust neglecting the property and allowing it to fall into disrepair.

A spokeswoman for the National Trust said: "[The trust] is currently deciding on how we can secure a long future for Coombe End Farmhouse.

"Our main priority is to look at all of the options which will protect the future of this historic farmhouse.

"As a charity, the trust must generate much needed income for essential works to the buildings and the whole estate.

"We have taken steps, through the proper legal channels, to evict a group of squatters that have been illegally occupying Coombe End Farmhouse since April.

"Their occupancy of the building has hampered and delayed our efforts to examine all of the options to secure the future of this listed building."