Conan Doyle Hindhead house put up for sale in Surrey
The former Surrey home of Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has gone on the market.
The house in Hindhead was at the centre of a High Court battle last year when campaigners halted plans by owners, Fossway, to turn it into flats.
Campaigners were given an asking price of £1.25m to £1.3m after a For Sale sign went up recently.
The Undershaw Preservation Trust called it "a ridiculous price". Estate agents Aequitas Property declined to comment.
Waverley borough councillor Christiaan Hesse said the house, as a heritage site, could be extremely important to the village.
And he said: "I've long believed that if they [campaigners] want to get their hands on the house and save it, they need to buy it."
But a statement from Waverley council said the authority still considered the best outcome was to achieve an economically viable use for the site. It said its lawful use would remain as a commercial hotel.
John Gibson, founder of the Undershaw Preservation Trust, said a friend of the trust had been given an asking price over the phone but campaigners had not been able to obtain any sale particulars about the property or find a website with the information.
And he said: "We really have not done much about the For Sale at the moment. We have not got that money. It's a ridiculous price."
He said the property was probably worth £2m, but would cost between £1.3m and £1.5m to restore, and a reasonable sale price would be £600,000.
Mr Gibson said campaigners were still focusing on trying to get Grade I listing for Undershaw, which would mean any developer would have to be extremely careful, and talks were under way with English Heritage.
Grade II-listed Undershaw, built in 1897, was where Conan Doyle wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
The building was used as a hotel from the 1920s and was left empty in 2005, falling into disrepair.