Lighthouse at Sutton Bridge

The lighthouse is one of two positioned either side of the mouth of the River Nene between King's Lynn and Spalding. It was designed by John Rennie, architect of Waterloo Bridge, and built between 1829 and 1834 to commemorate the draining of the Great Fens. Consequently, the lamps were never lit to warn ships at sea. It stands amid four acres and looks out at the ships coming in and out on the tide.

In 1984, it was bought in a derelict state by Commander David Joel, a keen painter and wild fowler who had been collecting Peter Scott's work for years. "It's miles from anywhere and ideal for nature conservancy, painting and writing," he says. "I've always painted pictures of geese. My son-in-law once looked over my shoulder and said I had a touch of the Peter Scott. He later showed me the lighthouse advertised in Country Life and the next day I got in my car and drove up there like a madman. I agreed a price immediately and wrote a cheque later that evening."

Joel spent the next 12 months refurbishing it and rebuilding the original wooden extensions. "I restored it to honour Peter Scott," he says.

The following year, when Scott came to officially reopen the renovated building, he was welcomed into a heated house with electricity. "When I bought it there was more water running down the inside walls than on the outside but now it's extremely cosy," Joel says.

There are five storeys in the main building with a basement at the bottom, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, plus a kitchen and studio. But perhaps what Joel is most proud of is the wildfowl reserve he has established, with pools and lakes with islands for birds to breed. From the lighthouse's 35 windows he can see barnacle geese, pink-footed geese and – most importantly – snow geese.

He's only selling because the journey to the lighthouse from his home in Hampshire has become too much. "Whoever buys it will need to be a naturalist or an artist or a writer," he says. Louis de Soissons of Savills, who will be handling the sale, agrees. "Peter Scott's love affair with wildfowl began here," he says. "It's a wild setting perched on the edge of the promontory – perfect for a writer or an idiosyncratic second home."

There was talk that Lincolnshire Council would take it on but they pulled out due to a lack of funding. "That would have suited me perfectly as they would have kept it as a nature reserve," Joel says. That's not to say a new owner would need to be a wildfowl expert as there is a gamekeeper on the estate.

It will be too open to the elements for some. In The Snow Goose it is described as "desolate, utterly lonely, and made lonelier by the calls and cries of the wildfowl". De Soissons admits it will suit someone who "craves seclusion and peace".

But for David Joel, the romantic setting and the associations with The Snow Goose are enough to warm the heart. "The story has a happy ending in a way," he says. "The snow goose finally returns to the lighthouse and then flies in to the heavens."

Meanwhile, his own geese come back each year, just as Annabel did to Scott. "They go off for holidays all over the place," he says. "I only wish I could be like that; free to come and go as I please without any bags."

For more information about the Lighthouse at Sutton Bridge call Savills on 01603 229241
The Radio 4 adaptation of The Snow Goose is available on www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 until the end of this weekend
Buy The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico from Telegraph Books for £11.99 plus £1.25 p & p call 08448 711515