
I've been in touch with the agents who are flogging Sleddale Hall, the remote Cumbria farmhouse made famous in the cult film Withnail and I.
They've sent me some new photos of the derelict building near Shap which goes under the hammer on February 16 with a guide price of £145,000 or more.
It's been unoccupied for ages, it's almost two miles from the nearest public road and a mile from the nearest inhabited house - but its association with the movie has seen interest in it snowball as the auction date approaches.
Rumours have even begun circulating now that Kate Moss could be interested.

Apparently, the model could be keen to turn it into a rural retreat with her boyfriend, the musician Jamie Hince.
The pair are fans of the film, with Hince reportedly dubbing Moss "Withnail" and referring to himself as "And I".
Fans of the film, which starred Richard E Grant and Paul McGann, have also expressed an interest, along with others who would like to see the place become a museum or youth hostel.

Withnail sees Grant and McGann play out-of-work actors who venture to the Lakes only to find themselves isolated and stuck with the predatory Uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths) in their less-than-salubrious surrounding. "We've gone on holiday by mistake," Withnail declares at one point.
"Withnail is an iconic film and there may be a few eccentrics out there who would be interested in owning a piece of film history," says Savills' Paul Mooney.
"Sleddale Hall will certainly garner a bit more public interest than a house of this type normally would," adds Paul, who's an expert on selling homes that had been film locations (including the Dursleys' suburban pad in Harry Potter). He describes Sleddale as a "lovely building in a beautiful part of the world".
Built from stone and Lake District slate, Sleddale Hall and its outbuildings form a quadrangle and were probably built in the mid-18th century. Anyone wanting to turn it into a home now would need planning permission.
It was acquired by the Manchester Corporation in the 1920s as part of the land required to meet Manchester's growing need for drinking water. The Manchester Corporation eventually became part of North West Water and then United Utilities.

As interest in the place has grown, so has speculation that the price achieved could far exceed the £145,000 guide - although Mooney is quick to point out that while houses such as this attract a lot of interest from film buffs, that doesn't always lead to a higher sale price.
Withnail and I, meanwhile, is set to remain a classic - and a favourite among students. I've probably watched it about three times a year, usually between the hours of 11pm and 3am, for the last 20 years.
There again, I do need to get out more.
* Sleddale Hall will be auctioned at The Berkeley Hotel in London at 10.30am on February 16. For more details, call 0207 824 9091.



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