Legend has it that whilst hunting, the ghost of the murdered newborn appeared to him, causing his horse to shy and throw him.

But he reported to the author Peter Underwood that he did see "a ghost in the garden, a beautiful woman whom he later recognised from a portrait in the house as Mrs Leyborne Popham",[3] and another ghost in the Chinese bedroom he termed a "busybody", a word Mrs. Wills, wife of the then owner Major George Wills, agreed described the presence in that room.

Another possible ghost is that of a past tenant, Gerard Lee Bevan, who lived at Littlecote after World War I and later served time for embezzlement.

[6] Sir John Popham bought the reversion of Littlecote, and succeeded to it on Darrell's death in 1589; he then built the present Elizabethan brick mansion, which was completed in 1592.

Sir Ernest was a major shareholder and a director of the Imperial Tobacco company, which also owned the nearby Ramsbury Manor.

From airfields in this area, including Ramsbury just to the west, the Airborne Division took off during the night of 5/6 June 1944 as part of the invasion of Normandy.

During the Second World War (and during Sir Ernest Wills's tenure as HM's Lord Lieutenant for the County of Wiltshire, 1930–1942) King George VI paid a visit to Littlecote in 1943.

In the same year, the house's collection of Civil War weaponry and armour – begun by Parliamentary colonel Alexander Popham – was offered for auction, and bought in its entirety by Royal Armouries.

[10] In 1996 De Savary sold the estate to Warner Holidays, who now operate it as a country house hotel and resort.

Littlecote House is on the south bank of the River Kennet between the villages of Ramsbury and Chilton Foliat, and about two miles northwest of the small Berkshire town of Hungerford.

Position: grid reference SU303703 Nearby places of interest: Crofton Pumping Station, Wilton Windmill