24 August 2009
The remote Cumbrian farmhouse used in the cult film Withnail & I finally has a new owner.
Water company United Utilities has confirmed that Sleddale Hall, near Shap, has been sold for an undisclosed sum in a private sale.
The new owner is conservation architect Tim Ellis who hopes to sympathetically restore the building as a house.
The building, which has been unoccupied for many years, was auctioned in London in February amid worldwide interest from potential buyers and film fans.
Unfortunately, despite efforts on both sides, the sale fell through and the building's then owner United Utilities had to reconsider its options.
A new opportunity came in the form of Tim, who was the underbidder at the original auction. Tim is based in Canterbury but is planning to spend a lot of time at Sleddale over the coming months.
He said: "I am delighted to have had a second chance to buy this beautiful building. I first saw the film about seven years ago and have been a fan ever since. I would like to restore the building in a way that other fans of the film could approve of. There is a lot of work to be done before I can draw up firm plans but my intention is not to deprive Sleddale's many admirers of its links with its iconic past."
Tim, 41, who specialises in the restoration of historic buildings, said there were a lot of planning hurdles to overcome before work on the house could begin.
"My hope is to sympathetically restore the building as a house, changing it as little as possible to make it suitable to live in. That means working with the natural building style for that part of Cumbria and making sure that modern services are introduced discreetly so that the character of the building is respected and not changed.
From the outside Sleddale Hall looks very unlike it did in the film. Film makers applied false decoration and paintwork which is not typical of traditional buildings in Cumbria's easternmost fells.
"Sleddale is still readily recognisable as having been used in the film and I want to make reference to that with anything I do with the house. It's too early to say exactly how that will happen, but it will probably be by restoring the downstairs rooms which were used in the film, the ground floor kitchen and sitting area. I would like to be able to restore these as close to the period in the film as possible so that would mean no overhead lighting, radiators or other obvious modern intrusions."
Sleddale Hall sits on the north side of Wet Sleddale valley and is accessible only via a dirt track. It is almost two miles from the nearest public road and a mile from the nearest inhabited house.
United Utilities' Senior Land Agent on its Thirlmere Estate, Edward Holt said: "I am delighted that Sleddale Hall is finally going to get the attention it deserves. We all have a soft spot for the hall. I was there when the filming took place in 1986 and it is a beautiful and fascinating place. I'm sure Tim will give it a sensitive and fitting new lease of life."
CAPTION: The new owner, architect Tim Ellis, outside Sleddale Hall.