Jamie Oliver's former four-bedroom Essex cottage up for sale with Savills for less than £1 million

A property formerly owned by star chef Jamie Oliver has gone up for sale - at just shy of £1 million. The four-bedroom cottage, which also appeared in the 1992 series of antiques-turned-mystery show Lovejoy, is in the Essex hamlet of Beazley End, five miles north of Braintree.

It was bought by chef Oliver's charity the Fifteen Foundation in 2006. The celebrity cook is a noted child of Essex and still lives in the county. The property, The Cock Inn, is believed to be more than 400 years old, and was first listed as a public house in the 1800s before being converted into a private house in 2013 and renamed Lime Tree Cottage.

Featuring a "handmade clay tile roof", the home is detailed as providing "extensive accommodation with a wealth of period features and some stylish additions such as exposed chrome pipework and solid oak doors".

It boasts four bedrooms, with the master being en suite, as well as four reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast room, spacious utility room and a cellar. Two of the reception rooms are separated by a fireplace with exposed brickwork. "Externally there is a large sweeping drive, a double garage and a delightful southwest-facing garden," the listing added.

The garden includes a paved terrace, a shed, greenhouse and raised vegetable beds. To the front, the property is set back from its country lane setting and provides an extensive drive leading to a double garage of pitched roof design, all set in a plot of around 0.3 acres.

The property is listed with Savills, and has a guide price of £975,000.