A “FAIRY-tale” house with a sunken garden modelled on the ruins of Tintern Abbey has gone on the market for an eye-watering £4m.

Dutch Gardens, in Wraysbury near Windsor, was created on the site of a run-down bungalow by property developer Trevor Wynne-Jones, who bought the plot in 1966 for £13,500.

He started building his riverside “palace” in the 1980s and over three decades created a seven-bedroom house modelled on Venetian architecture and surrounded by a moat.

The gardens are framed by ‘ruins’ inspired by Tintern Abbey, with roofless walls and archways.

Soren Ravaux, sales manager at Waterview estate agents, says: “The remains of Tintern Abbey are greatly celebrated in poetry and art, and it was this ruin that Trevor wanted to recreate?, having fond memories of visiting it with his wife.”

The gardens include koi carp pools, waterfalls and a stone folly, as well as the enormous underground workshop where Wynne-Jones created his designs, refusing to use architects or landscape designers.

Now in his 80s, he was inspired by Italian Renaissance architecture, especially the buildings of Venice, when he started building the seven-bedroom house, which has the centrepiece of a “Venice Lounge”, with access to the sunken garden surrounded by a recreation of the ruins of Tintern’s ancient abbey.

The living room features an Inglenook area with Renaissance-style frescoes inspired by Windsor Castle and matching his-and-hers thrones.

There are five further reception rooms on the ground floor, including a library and two galleries, and grand stone fireplaces and pillars everywhere.

See more pictures at http://www.dexters.co.uk