The dream home that never was for one of Britain's greatest film stars, back on the market for the first time in half a century

Sir John Mills starred in many a combative scene, albeit fisticuffs with Stewart Granger's character in Waterloo Road or a hillside battle with pirates in Swiss Family Robinson – armed with coconut bombs and a tiger. But imagine being locked with the legendary actor in a bidding war over a property.

Mills and his new wife, the novelist Mary Hayley Mills, moved to the village of Denham, Buckinghamshire in 1942, a few years before he filmed Great Expectations (1946) and The History of Mr Polly (1949) at nearby Denham Film Studios. Initially they lived at Grade II-listed Misbourne Cottage, moving again a few years later to Hills House in the village.

John Mills and his wife — the playwright and novelist Mary Hayley-Bell — sunbathing in the garden at their cottage in Denham Buckingha