by Maurice Chesworth

Last updated 09:20, Friday, 10 October 2008

TEN years ago it was a crumbling Cumbrian tower house partly used as stables.

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Taking shape: Work under way to transform the medieval manor

Blencowe Hall near Greystoke, Penrith, a medieval manor house extended during the 16th and 17th centuries, had fallen on hard times.

But this week, owners Charles and Christine Rowley were celebrating after English Heritage named it as one of England’s 20 Best Heritage-led Development Schemes following a restoration project costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Henry Owen-John, north west regional director for English Heritage, said: “Both the owners of Blencowe Hall and their architects showed they understood the value of this wonderful building.

“The rest of the country can learn from this exemplary scheme in Cumbria. The 20 examples of Constructive Conservation we identified are just not commercially successful, they add distinctiveness and meaning to the places in which we live.

“Heritage is a non-renewable resource, once it’s gone, you can’t get it back.”

Owner Christine Rowley said: “English Heritage has now changed its view about old properties. Rather than them just being preserved as a ’ruin’ there can now be a change of use, provided that the renovations are sympathetic.”

The Rowleys, who live in Hampstead, London, have strong links to Cumbria. Charles, 42, was born and raised in Glassonby. The couple have two children, Lauren, nine, and Grant, seven.

Ten years ago they bought Melmerby Hall, a Grade II listed manor house in the foothills of the north Pennines, the former home of his grandparents Dr and Mrs Alan Shelton-Agar. They bought it from Charles’ family estate and it was refurbished as a holiday let property.

The venture was so popular that they started looking for a second property and discovered Blencowe Hall.

Christine immediately fell in love with the house when she saw it for the first time on Christmas Eve 2005.

They made an offer for the property on New Year’s Eve, exchanged contracts at the end of January and completed in April – and the conservation work began.

The hall, a magnificent manor house, is a scheduled monument and grade I listed building.

Inside, new rooms have been created; the formerly stranded fireplaces once more relate to floors and hearths.

In particular the great gash in the tower, caused by an attack in the Civil War has been glazed and retained as a symbol of the turbulent history of the hall.