John Lennon's childhood Liverpool home 'Mendips' opens to the public for the first time on 29 March.

The semi-detached house was donated to the National Trust by his widow Yoko Ono and has been restored to 1950s austerity - as it would have looked when John lived there with his Aunt Mimi from the age of five to 23.

The porch at 251 Menlove Avenue is where the musically inclined Lennon formed his first band, The Quarrymen, rehearsed original material with Beatle partner Paul McCartney, and later composed The Beatles' first British number one 'Please Please Me'.

Visitors will be able to take a joint tour of 'Mendips' and the nearby former family home of Sir Paul McCartney. Five years ago the trust opened his three-bedroom terraced house at 20 Forthlin Road, Liverpool, to mixed reviews.

Lennon once described 'Mendips' as 'a nice, semi-detached place with a small garden'. In his 1968 composition 'Happiness is a Warm Gun' on the White Album , he sings about 'a soap impression of his wife which he ate and donated to the National Trust'.

Tours run Wednesday-Sunday from 29 March to 26 October. Tickets cost £10 for adults, £5 for NT members. Accompanied children go for free. To prebook a tour call 0151 708 8574.

· National Trust (0870 458 4000)