Canary Cottage on the A47 has been given Grade II listed status

It is one of the area's best loved landmarks and now it has been protected for future generations to enjoy.

Canary Cottage the thatched former farm worker's home beside the A47 between Guyhirn and Thorney has been given Grade II listed status by Historic England.

Thousands of motorists who travel the busy A-road know the cottage thanks to its distinctive yellow windows and doors.

According to Historic England, the body for protecting the nation's important buildings, the little house, which is at Knarr Farm, "is a rare surviving example of a mid-18th century Fenland cottage" and could even have inspired the Lilliput Lane miniature series.

The cottage, which has not been lived in since the 1960s, gained its name thanks to its colourful paintwork, which dates from the early 20th Century, when Knarr Farm's then-owners, the Dixon-Spain family, used a colour coding scheme to identify their buildings and machinery.

The brick-built L-plan building offered basic living conditions to its last residents, Ken and Thelma Wright. They met through working on Knarr Farm in the 1950s, before moving out in 1965.

There is a sitting room and kitchen downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs - the only toilet is in an outbuilding.

Peter Fox, managing director of the building's current owner Dalton Seeds, said: "We would like to see Canary Cottage maintained for future generations and will in time look at some refurbishment."

English Heritage said it believed the "characterful local landmark" inspired one of the cottages in the Lilliput Lane miniatures series.

Tony Calladine, regional director for Historic England in the East of England, said: "By protecting it we are helping to ensure it can be enjoyed by future generations, helping them to understand life in the Fens in times gone by."

Historic England said it hoped people would share their own stories, memories and photos of the cottage through its Enriching the List project.