diff --git a/tensordict/tensorclass.py b/tensordict/tensorclass.py
index ab8b99e2e..f14d38b67 100644
--- a/tensordict/tensorclass.py
+++ b/tensordict/tensorclass.py
@@ -533,7 +533,7 @@ def __torch_function__(
     if not hasattr(cls, "names"):
         cls.require = property(_names, _names_setter)
     if not _is_non_tensor and not hasattr(cls, "data"):
-        cls.data = property(_data)
+        cls.data = property(_data, _data_setter)
     if not hasattr(cls, "grad"):
         cls.grad = property(_grad)
     if not hasattr(cls, "to_dict"):
@@ -1719,9 +1719,21 @@ def _names(self) -> torch.Size:
 
 
 def _data(self):
+    # We allow data to be a field of the class too
+    if "data" in self.__dataclass_fields__:
+        data = self._tensordict.get("data", None)
+        if data is None:
+            data = self._non_tensordict.get("data")
+        return data
     return self._from_tensordict(self._tensordict.data, self._non_tensordict)
 
 
+def _data_setter(self, new_data):
+    if "data" in self.__dataclass_fields__:
+        return self.set("data", new_data)
+    raise AttributeError("property 'data' is read-only.")
+
+
 def _grad(self):
     grad = self._tensordict._grad
     if grad is None: