A widow who gifted her manor home to a council has been told she can have it back - for £1.25 million.

East Sussex County Council is putting Bentley Wildfowl and Motor Museum on the market after running it for years at a loss.

Councillors have now given first refusal to Mary Askew, 96.

Mrs Askew donated the house and gardens to the authority 26 years ago in memory of her late husband Gerald.

The £1.25 million price tagis a fraction of the market value but does not include the £2 million collection of antiques and paintings she also gave to the people of East Sussex.

These may be sold off separately.

Mrs Askew, who still lives in the upper floors of the Palladian-style mansion at Halland, near Lewes, is said to be appalled but has no choice but to consider the offer.

Her cousin Ingrid Christophersen said: "She will have to sell some cottages on the estate to raise the money but she doesn't want someone to come along and turn the place into a circus.

"This has really knocked the stuffing out of her."

The council expects to save about £135,000 a year in running costs by selling Bentley.

Deputy leader Daphne Bagshawe said: "I do accept the gift of the property to the council was a generous gesture but sometimes things do not work out in the way in which they were intended.

"Once the gift had been made it became the property of the council and belongs to taxpayers.

"If the proposed deal with the Askews does not go ahead we will have no choice but to sell on the open market.

"It is not for me to give away taxpayers' property. It is my duty to protect their interests."

Mrs Askew gave the house and gardens, including antiques, paintings and one of Britain's largest privately owned collections of wildfowl, to the authority in 1978.

She still lives in the house under the terms of a protective covenant.

A number of cottages on the estate have been rented to tenants at below-market rent for decades.

It is these which Mrs Askew may sell to repurchase her home.

Stephen Atkinson-Jones, of the Sussex Guild of Craftsmen, some of whose members operate from Bentley, said: "It was gifted to the people of Sussex and really the council should give it back to her if they can't manage it properly.

"You run it badly for 26 years and then sell it for a profit because of the rise in the value of real estate. It does not put the council in a very good light."

The museum and wildfowl centre are set to close after the summer season.