_Read all about it: an elegant 3-bedroom London home under £1m, with links to a literary legend

Guide price: £995,000

This light-filled and artfully upgraded apartment in a handsome Victorian house in Trinity Road, London SW17 offers the chance to follow in the footsteps of one of the greats of English literature. The official English Heritage blue plaque on the property tells all: “Thomas Hardy poet and novelist lived here 1878 – 1881.” Now for sale in superb condition, it offers contemporary accommodation matched with an impressive historical link.

The apartment covers three floors, a total of 1,332 square feet of living space with three double bedrooms and a wonderful first-floor reception room with high ceilings and dual aspect windows.

The property has been expertly renovated by the current owners and makes an elegant and comfortable family home, decorated with true style. There’s private outside space too: a roof terrace, a real sun trap, and a garden with space to entertain.

World Book Day is an annual charity event that aims to change lives through a love of reading. Thomas Hardy is one of England’s most beloved literary figures and while he is most celebrated for his Wessex novels set in and around Dorchester – Tess of the d’Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd for example – he was also an award-winning architect with a passion for the museums and culture of London.

Trinity Road has Wandsworth Common on the doorstep and the shops and restaurants of Bellevue Road and Northcote Road are an easy walk away. Local transport links include regular buses and trains from Wandsworth Common Station link to central London.