THE Studland hotel which became a favourite of children's writer Enid Blyton has been sold to a new owner.

Historic Knoll House Hotel, where Enid would stay with her husband up to four times a year during the 1950s, has been sold to a 'high net worth individual' for an undisclosed sum, says estate agents Savills.

It is understood the existing owners decided to sell up so they could retire.

While the estate agents have refused to name the buyer - or the amount the hotel eventually sold for - when Knoll House went on the market two years ago the asking price was £15 million.

Enid Blyton would often stay at the hotel for weeks at a time. She'd write stories influenced by her own exploits in the surrounding countryside, which would go on to form the basis for her Famous Five novels.

Other notable guests of the hotel include Britain's wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill, writer Roald Dahl and Hollywood icon Vivien Leigh.

Kenneth and Pauline Ferguson bought the hotel in 1959 and it has stayed within the family since then.

Martin Rodgers, head of UK hotel transactions at Savills, said: "We are delighted to have secured new owners for Knoll House as the owners head into retirement following nearly 60 years of business.

"The UK regional hotel market continues to attract visitors' attention as they look for long term income security and well known local assets."

Knoll House started life as a summer residence for the aristocratic Bankes family in the early 1900s, before being turned into a six-bedroom hotel by Chris and Poppy Smith in 1931.

It shut during the war and was used by troops preparing for the D-Day landings.

The hotel is set in 4.33 acres of woodland, with direct access to a three-mile stretch of beach. It is well known for its restaurant and leisure facilities, which include a nine-hole pitch and putt golf course and tennis courts.