AN HISTORIC Dorset estate synonymous with the 'ghost village' of Tyneham and the family which inspired James Bond has been put up for sale for £3.5 million.

The Moigne Combe Estate was once owned by the colourful Bonds, one of whose ancestors was sentenced to death by Hanging Judge Jeffreys. Another, the Elizabethan spy, John Bond, was said to have inspired Ian Fleming's 007.

The estate includes a ten bedroom mansion in a woodland setting with a lake, built by the Bond family in the early part of the 20th century for their personal use.

Savills, which is marketing the property said: "The house itself has many fine attributes such as a double height reception hall, a galleried landing and a formal dining room."

There is also a library, drawing room and a separate kitchen wing with a scullery, butlers’ pantry, cellar and domestic staff rooms.

The estate also has a pair of let semi-detached three bedroom cottages, a 31 acre livestock farm with a four bedroom farmhouse, and Stable House, a four bedroom detached former coach house with an annexe and walled garden.

The land totals about 141 acres of which 90 acres is mature woodland but, says Savills, the property can be sold as a whole or four separate lots.

The Bond family first came to the Purbecks in 1683 when Nathaniel Bond bought both Tyneham and Creech Grange. Two years later Lady Alice Lisle, daughter of Edith Bond, was sentenced to burn to death for harbouring a refugee from the Battle of Sedgemoor. Following protests the sentence was changed to death by beheading.

John Bond, who spied for Queen Elizabeth 1, was said to have taken the motto 'The world is not enough' from the palace of a Spanish King. It is believed that writer Ian Fleming took that - and the idea of a daring spy - from the family, who lived near his prep school in the Purbecks.

However, the Bond family's status did nothing to insulate them from the requirements of the War Office and they, like their neighbours, were forced to leave Tyneham so it could be used for tank firing during World War II.

It was said that Tyneham's last owner, Ralph Bond, had 'died a broken man' after the Government broke its promise to return Tyneham to its former inhabitants.