Not many homes have purpose-built benches for naked women to perch on. However, at a modernist home in the Hampshire village of Fordingbridge, they were an essential feature. The property was designed as a studio in 1933 for Augustus John, one of the most celebrated British painters of his day, and its architect ensured that the benches were just high enough to fit radiators underneath – no doubt reducing the goose bumps and grievances of the artist’s models. Today, aquamarine cushions trim the window seats, and the 34ft x 26ft former workspace functions as a living-cum-dining room.

Studio North, as it was named, was built in the grounds of Fryern Court, John’s New Forest family home, where he had moved in 1927. The large Elizabethan house was famous for its wild parties, and John and his wife, Dorelia, entertained TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and Tallulah Bankhead there. The house was sold after the artist’s death in 1961, as was another small workspace in the grounds, known as the South Studio.

There was more local property in the family: John’s older sister, Gwen – now considered to be the superior painter – also lived in the area, just down the road at Burgate Cross. Her home, Yew Tree Cottage, went on sale in 2006, for the first time in nearly 80 years, fetching £360,000 at auction.

More flamboyant than his introspective sister, John enthusiastically embraced the idea of the artist as bohemian. Village lore tells how he often rode his horse bareback to the local pub. An all-round bounder, famous for his penchant for women and drink, he is said to have patted the heads of all the local children, as he couldn’t be sure which ones he had fathered.

Despite his dissolute ways, John – who studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London alongside Gwen – was renowned as a brilliant draughtsman. Often compared to Matisse and Gauguin, by the 1920s he was Britain’s leading portraitist. In 1933, at the age of 55, John decided he wanted a space solely for the purposes of painting – and the result was Studio North.

The pink studio, as it was known locally, because of the exterior wall colour, was designed by the architect Christopher “Kit” Nicholson. The son of the artist William – a friend and contemporary of John’s – and brother of the abstractionist Ben, Nicholson was only 29 at the time. It was his first design in the modern style.

Featured in numerous books and journals over the years, the building has a reinforced concrete frame, filled in with brick, as well as reinforced concrete cross beams supporting wooden joists for the floor and roof. Glazing and a high ceiling allow plenty of light into the first-floor studio space, off which is a large balcony with a spectacular concrete spiral staircase leading to the garden.

Originally, there was a picture store on the ground floor, but in the early 1960s, the area was converted into three bedrooms and a bathroom. The studio-turned-home, approached by a private drive, is on sale for £699,000. “It’s an upside-down house,” says the owner, Barbara Hare, 78, referring to the fact that the bedrooms, which are all equal in size, are on the ground floor. “But they all have floor-to-ceiling windows, so you are surrounded by nature.”

The Grade II-listed house sits in nearly a third of an acre of garden, with perfectly manicured lawns – tended by Hare’s second husband, John Norris – and flowerbeds bursting with summer blooms, cared for by Hare. “This is the quiet corner,” she says, pointing out a sheltered arbour with two carved wooden chairs (“thrown in my knapsack on travels in South Africa”) arranged around a little table. “I wanted there to be a quiet place. Somewhere to go where you can read uninterrupted.”

The garden wraps itself around the house as smoothly as the staircase winds up to the 26ft x 17ft balcony. “The balcony is a wonderful place to breakfast on,” Hare says. “You can hear the sound of every bird imaginable. Or watch the stoats chasing each others’ tails in the fallen oak, which narrowly missed the house last year. And you can just see what is known as Dorelia’s garden.” The artist’s long-suffering wife planted wild flowers in a section of the grounds that still belongs to Fryern Court – as do the surrounding fields. Punctuated by mighty oaks and grazing horses, they provide a bucolic setting beyond the studio.

Hare bought the house with her first husband, Richard, an ecclesiastical architect, after spotting a three-line advertisement in The Times. They came to view the property and fell in love with it – although she says that they weren’t particular fans of John’s art, “except for the charcoal sketches”.

Studio North became a family home for the Hares and their three children, and any lingering presence of John – immortalised in old photographs wreathed in clouds of cigarette smoke, with a bottle of gin dangling from one hand – was exorcised. However, the first on to visit Mongolia, China and eastern Turkey. Baskets on the steps of the spiral staircase are filled with seeds and treasures that she has collected on her travels. “I’m a trekker, not a tripper,” she insists.

Some of Hare’s own modernist-influenced artwork adorns the walls of the former studio. “This is a very loving place,” she says. “Everyone remarks on it. Perhaps it’s because I love it so much. And it’s a happy place.” Two years ago, she married John Norris, now 83, a former GP from Salisbury who had been married for 53 years before his first wife died. “We’re still in our honeymoon period,” Hare says. Between them, they have five children and 11 grandchildren, who all come to spend time here. “We just know how to be happy,” she adds.

“The building is one of the most appealing architectural achievements of the modern movement,” says Albert Hill, director of The Modern House estate agency, which is selling the home. “It would make a perfect bolt hole for an artist, architect or designer.”

According to Hare, Julius White, John’s grandson, had been keen to buy the studio for years, but she hasn’t known his whereabouts for a while.

“I’ve enjoyed it here, but the house takes up too much of our time,” says Norris, who is rapidly losing his sight. “We need more time for each other.”

“I’m not going to think about being sad to leave,” Hare says. “I’m just going to shut my eyes and get on with it, and live every day we have left to the full. I’ve been jolly lucky, you know.”

Studio North is for sale for £699,000 with The Modern House; 0845 634 4068, www.themodernhouse.net

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