A tiny wooden hut where one of Britain's best-loved nature authors penned some of his greatest works has become one of the smallest buildings to achieve listed status.

Henry William Williamson built the remote moorland cabin in 1929 with the profits from his most famous book, Tarka The Otter.

The naturalist and prolific writer spent up to 15 hours a day inside the one-room hideaway close to the pretty village of Georgeham near Woolacomb, Devon.

Local historian Philip Milton urged planners to protect the building after it was sold at auction for an “extraordinary” six-figure sum in May. English Heritage responded this week by granting it Grade II status "as an historical monument of repute".

Made out of elm, oak and slate, the hut was built by the author in 1929 to 1930 after the publication of Williamson’s best-known novel, which brought the Devon countryside to life through the eyes of an otter. The book won the Hawthornden Prize in 1928 and has never been out of print since its first publication.

After his death his hut was run and maintained by the Henry Williamson Trust, which is administered by the writer’s descendants. But in May this year the trust decided to sell the hut and surrounding land and a nearby detached 1950’s studio.

In fact, the hut was sold ahead of its auction for an undisclosed sum which "blew the top end of the price guide [of £110,000] out of the water", auctioneer Colin Thorne, of Webbers in Braunton, revealed.