WITH a staggering price tag of £13m, Marshcourt mansion has become the most expensive home in Hampshire after being put up for sale this week.

Many people are finding it hard to even get a foot on the property ladder but although the Grade I listed mansion in Stockbridge has been on the market for less than a week it has already attracted considerable interest. And who wouldn't be impressed by a library, gymnasium, tennis court and billiard room with king-sized table?

Let's not forget the enormous high ceiling ballroom, and if you ever decided to throw a party for your well-heeled friends there's plenty of space to put everyone up in the 12 bedrooms, housekeeper's suite, lodge and recently converted Grade II Lutyens lodge with separate cottage.

Bothering the neighbours won't be a problem either - the home is surrounded by 47 acres of woodland and landscaped gardens.

For the more family oriented, the house has its own nursery and nanny flat.

For the last eight years the property has been used as a family home but the owners are planning to move to Europe.

Before them it was owned by former government minister the millionaire ex-Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson MP.

The mansion is of particular historical interest because it was built by architect Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Along with celebrated garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, the duo created more than 100 houses complete with beautifully designed gardens all over the country.

A spokesman for estate agent Knight Frank said: "We've had a huge amount of interest from people who love Lutyens. This type of house is always going to generate interest and you won't find another of this quality on the market."

The mansion is ten miles from Winchester by the River Test and was the last and largest to be built by Lutyens in the free Tudor' style. The architect was a big fan of the Hampshire downs and the River Test valley which he described as "one of God's kindest and most gentle of creations" in a reference to the chalk landscape.

Built from local chalk the house stands out against the rolling countryside with its tall red brick chimneys and tiled roof.

At the time of building, chalk had never been used as the principal material for a building of this scale. The interior is decorated with ornate chalk carvings and columns and even the billiard table is made of chalk and marble.

Julian Greenwood, of Westpoint Mortgage Advice Centre in Eastleigh, said: "To get a mortgage on this property over 25 years would cost you a repayment every month of £78,594. It's completely and utterly out of the question for your average Joe. You'd have to be very rich or a Russian billionaire to afford that house and have a net income of about £3.9m a year."