J.K. Rowling’s childhood home is up for sale.

Current owner Julian Mercer believes the Grade II-listed detached Church Cottage in Tutshill, near Chepstow, South East Wales – which is listed at £399,950 – inspired some of the ideas in her ‘Harry Potter’ books as some features of the property echo aspects of the novels.

The features include a dingy cupboard similar to the one where the titular wizard was forced to live by his aunt and uncle and a trapdoor which leads to an eerie cellar.

Julian said: “It’s a lovely place. JK was here in her early years and it could well have inspired her.

“The architecture is very Hogwarts-like. It has vaulted ceilings and stone windows. It oozes gothic spirit.”

One of the bedrooms even carries a piece of graffiti scrawled by the author, who is now 45.

The wall underneath the windowsill in inscribed: “Joanne Rowling slept here circa 1982.”

Julian – who bought the property from the Rowling family in 1995 – said: “When we first moved in JK Rowling was not a known name and it was a couple of years later that ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ came out.

“It was then that we knew the significance of the name written on the windowsill. We have redecorated the house completely since moving in but we always painted around it.”