Look inside the gorgeous English cottage where John Le Carré wrote Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Look inside the gorgeous English cottage where John Le Carré wrote Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

September 7, 2023, 11:53am

If you have $3.7 million, you might be in the running to purchase Tregiffian Cottage, the Cornwall home of legendary novelist John Le Carré, who died in 2020. If not, you’ll have to settle for looking at the pictures—and if you’re like the typical Lit Hub reader, ogling his dreamy library and even dreamier writing room.

John le Carré and his wife purchased Tregiffan Cottage in the late ’60s; of course, le Carré wrote many of his books there, including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Constant Gardner. “My earliest memories are of playing in the garden at Tregiffian and adventuring along the coastal path to St Loy or Mousehole,” said le Carré’s son, Nick Cornwell—who writes novels as Nick Harkaway—in a statement. “The whole place is alive with butterflies, rabbits, swallows, foxes, and occasionally badgers. In winter, you bank up a log fire, and listen to the wind around the house, and feel as if you’re in a castle or a lighthouse. The storms are dramatic and beautiful, and when they’re gone, you get that wild horizontal sun. It’s a wonderful place to rest, or work, or just be yourself.”

The 5,000-square-foot house sits on 3.3 acres with obviously gorgeous views. Le Carré’s writing room is in a detached studio building; the library features “bespoke joinery and a feature window at one end, glazed with what is believed to be part of the canopy” from a WWII fighter plane. Of course, there’s also a safe room. You can’t write that many espionage novels without getting just a little bit paranoid. Take a peek here: