LORD of the Rings fans can bag their own hobbit hole in Headington, if they can magic-up £1.25m.

Number 76 Sandfield Road, Oxford, where Middle Earth author JRR Tolkien lived for 15 years, has a stone plaque on the front which says: ‘JRR Tolkien lived here 1953-1968’ next to a picture of a dragon and the words ‘The Hill’.

Other famous literary and arts characters who visited the 1930s-style property include Narnia creator CS Lewis and Donald Swann, who composed music using poems from Tolkien’s works.

Owner David Bougourd, who bought the property in 1996, said: “Tolkien was a bit nomadic and stayed in lots of places but lived here for quite a while after he retired.

“The lean-to is where he used to keep his important papers but the house’s main claim to fame is that Tolkien fell and broke his leg on the stairs here.”

Although no major works were written at the address, the volumes which make up the Lord of the Rings trilogy were published while the Oxford don was living there.

The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers appeared in 1954, while The Return of the King came out the following year.

When retired IT consultant Mr Bougourd’s late wife first viewed the house, she was not keen on the stone plaque erected by the previous owner.

He recalled: “She told me ‘It has this big slab on the wall and we have got to get rid of that’.

“I don’t know who this Tolkien person is’.”

He added: “I persuaded her it should stay.

But he added: “When we bought it, Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings films hadn’t come out, so he was one of a number of writers in Oxford.

“Since then, he’s become much more well-known.”

The five-bedroom detached house, which has been extended, includes a drawing room, conservatory, sitting room, kitchen and breakfast room and separate dining room.

There are three bathrooms, an attic room, driveway with parking and back garden.

Sam Lamb of agents Scottfraser, which is selling the property, said it had attracted 20 viewings so far.

He said: “The Tolkien connection gets people’s interest but fundamentally, it’s a great house in one of the most popular roads in Headington.”