Hopwood DePree has been leading efforts to renovate Grade II* listed Hopwood Hall in Middleton since 2017
It was a story fit for the pages of a Hollywood screenplay, with a California actor moving to a town in north Manchester to restore his dilapidated ancestral home.
But Hopwood DePree’s romance plot has transformed instead to a horror, after he found himself locked out the building he was restoring, and now battling the local council in court for possession of the property.
DePree, 55, has been leading efforts to restore Grade II* listed Hopwood Hall in Middleton since 2017, under an agreement with the local authority, which gave him an option to buy the building.
He has written a book about his efforts to restore the derelict hall, which he has nicknamed “Downton Shabby”, and which once hosted Lord Byron. It still contains an ornate fireplace that the poet gifted to the then owners.
