The five-bedroom home Fenland home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in is up for sale for more than £600,000.

Cambs Times: The five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: SavillsThe five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: Savills (Image: Archant)

Mark, who represented Great Britain twice in the Olympic Games, lives at The Green, Thorney, with his wife Helen and two children.

Mark said: "My wife and I have had 13 very happy years at 3 The Green and we have raised both our children here.

"Reluctantly, the time has come for us to sell so that we can spend more time on the Norfolk coast.

"Both our children sail so we have bought a house out there which will allow us more time to take advantage of their hobby."

Cambs Times: The five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: SavillsThe five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: Savills (Image: Archant)

The modern period house has high ceilings, large windows and a gated driveway.

The house has been redecorated throughout by Mark and Helen with all plumbing and electrics renovated.

Mark, who now works for a financial services firm, continued: "Being at the heart of a village with such a strong community has been invaluable to us and we will treasure so many fond memories of the house and the area as a family.

"Emotionally, we don't want to leave at all but it's time for our next chapter and we have no doubt that whoever buys the house will make as many happy memories here as we have."

Cambs Times: The five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: SavillsThe five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: Savills (Image: Archant)

Mark earned three medals in freestyle relays at the 1997 FINA Short Course World Championships and the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

The home is on the market with Savills, with a guide price of £625,000.

On its website is the story of the abbey that in 972 was re-founded by St Aethelwold and run strictly in accordance with the Benedictine Rule.

It became the centre of a major fenland estate and large stone buildings were built to glorify God as they were at nearby Peterborough, Crowland, Ely and Ramsey.

Cambs Times: The five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: SavillsThe five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: Savills (Image: Archant)

The large Norman church, built from 1080, contained the relics of important saints such as St Botolph (brought from Boston) and attracted visitors and their donations. Further buildings were added and embellished, especially from 1305 to 1323, but The Black Death of 1349 killed 13 of the monks and 100 people in their household.

At the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, Thorney still had an abbot and twenty monks.

Cambs Times: The five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: SavillsThe five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: Savills (Image: Archant)

Cambs Times: The five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: SavillsThe five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: Savills (Image: Archant)

Cambs Times: The five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: SavillsThe five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: Savills (Image: Archant)

Cambs Times: The five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: SavillsThe five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: Savills (Image: Archant)

Cambs Times: The five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: SavillsThe five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: Savills (Image: Archant)

Cambs Times: The five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: SavillsThe five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: Savills (Image: Archant)

Cambs Times: The five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: SavillsThe five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: Savills (Image: Archant)

Cambs Times: The five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: SavillsThe five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: Savills (Image: Archant)

Cambs Times: The five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: SavillsThe five-bedroom home of world champion swimmer Mark Stevens in Thorney is up for sale for more than half a million pounds. Picture: Savills (Image: Archant)