A former mansion in Eden left derelict, vandalised and abandoned is putting its chequered past behind it after a torrid decade.
Flass House, at Maulds Meaburn, six miles outside Appleby, is being brought back to life by Graham Cass, a co-owner in the Jo & Cass hair salon empire which employs 170 people.
Bought for £500,000 at auction in January 2019 — a third of its £1.5 million valuation just five years earlier — the Grade II listed building has already had improvements made, with more in the pipeline.
The latest ones planned include a new roof over the former orangery and the installation of an indoor swimming pool at the 20-bed property, which has more than 50 rooms.
While enthusiastic about its future, Mr Cass has declined to comment until planners at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority make a decision on the latest planning application.
This bright future is all a far cry from a decade ago when Flass House made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
In 2012, a member of the public reported hearing a strange noise which turned out to be from a diesel generator. This led police to an industrial-sized cannabis farm said to have produced £5 million of the class B drug.
That resulted in a six-strong gang of men being convicted at Carlisle Crown Court in 2015 and handed prison sentences totalling 40 years — among them former Flass owner Paul Davies, then aged 64.
Lawyers said he had rented it out to the gang following his divorce from Christine Holmes, also known as Christine Hodgson, a 1960s singer-songwriter and former Crackerjack presenter. She co-wrote Devil Woman, which proved a major hit for Cliff Richard in 1976 and went on to sell two million copies.
In 2017, the property gained further notoriety after becoming a target for illegal entry in 2017 by self-proclaimed “urban explorers” making videos on You Tube. It again ended in the dock with a man jailed for burglary in 2018.
But now plans have been lodged for listed building consent at the property, which is described as having a high architectural and artistic interest, and is regarded as historically significant. The new roof structure is planned to cover the installation of a swimming pool.
So far, it has won support from consultees including the YDNPA’s senior listed building officer and Historic England which has not raised any objections on heritage grounds.
Historic England described the proposal as “more sympathetic” and said it would “conserve and enhance” the listed building.
At a recent meeting, the application for listed building consent also won support from Crosby Ravensworth Parish Council.
The final decision rests with the YDNPA.
Flass House was designated as a listed building more than 50 years ago for its Pilladian Venetian style architecture, pilasters, three-storey tower, special windows, stone chimneys, entrance hall, glass dome, fireplaces and “very high standard” of interior detailing and decoration.
There was a building called Flass House as far back as 1828, which may have been a forerunner to the building which followed, according to documents submitted to planners.
It was rebuilt in 1851 for wealthy merchant brothers and tea and opium magnates Lancelot and Wilkinson Dent.
In 1972, a collection of 154 Eastern miniature paintings, which had lain forgotten in a trunk in an attic sold for £35,335 at Sotheby’s in London.
