US actor's dream to own ancestral home is in ruins
US actor's dream to own ancestral home is in ruins
A US actor's dream of restoring his ancestral home to its former glory has been left in ruins after the council that owns the 15th century manor house pulled out of the deal.
Hopwood DePree swapped Los Angeles for Rochdale in 2017 after discovering Grade II-listed Hopwood Hall in Middleton had been in his family for about 400 years.
But the 54-year-old, who said he had spent about £580,000 renovating the dilapidated 60-room country pile, claimed Rochdale Borough Council had now "pulled the rug from under him" by ending its agreement to sell it to him.
The council said Mr DePree did not have a "viable" plan for the future of the building.
Mr DePree, who is originally from Michigan, said he had been told stories about Hopwood Hall by his grandfather when he was a boy.
He had assumed the stories about the house - where Guy Fawkes and Lord Byron are reported to have stayed and which remained in the Hopwood family until World War One - were just fairy tales.
But when he found out about the family connection he decided to try to buy the building and turn it into an arts and events centre.
https://github.com/logicspark/thailand-holidays/issues/8
https://github.com/Datalux/Osintgram/issues/1196
https://github.com/northrup/kiosk/issues/6
https://github.com/andreykaipov/infra/issues/11
https://github.com/venmo/VENSeparatorView/issues/8
https://portaly.cc/DangerousBoys2Thai
https://hype.co/@myheroacademiayourenext
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls548032374/
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls548034016/
https://foro.ribbon.es/topic/28389/dergnjkop
https://pastelink.net/g0wr5n48
https://communicators.ncsu.edu/members/status/show?id=28949464%3AStatus%3A2308506
https://network.propertyweek.com/members/status/show?id=28959784%3AStatus%3A81536
https://herbalmeds-forum.biolife.com.my/d/202292-fvtyujko
https://forum.instube.com/d/167763-ewjmnbvcdea
https://paiza.io/projects/wSTYwV8ZT9K4zgCgMT-aiw?language=php
https://www.pastery.net/dgydwe/
https://paste.intergen.online/view/e3e7ff42
https://segarbugarku.com/community/main-forum/rfcvdwea/
Rochdale Council gave him a "limited licence to occupy" and the option to buy the building.
About £1.7m in grants from the council and heritage bodies like Historic England have been invested in repairs and renovations since 2017.
Planning permission for Mr DePree's scheme was granted in 2022, the same year he wrote Downton Shabby, which chronicled his efforts to revive the manor.
He said he believed he had viable plans for the future of the building, and had been talking to hotel and restaurant firms about his idea of running hospitality skills training there.
But he was shocked to discover that, at a meeting held behind closed doors last week, the council had decided to back out of the arrangement.
