THE Country House in Castle Carrock has been transformed by a pair who want the old Georgian Hall to serve the community of Cumbria.
The pair involved in the renovation are Ben Forster and Paul Longman. Ben works in musical theatre, and moved to London at 16. He won Andrew Lloyd Webber's Superstar TV show in 2012 and toured the UK as Jesus in the show.
He has since taken on iconic roles in Phantom of the Opera, Buddy the Elf and toured around Europe in the Disney 100 show.
The pair run a property business that Paul primarily runs, where they develop properties. Paul also has done interior design for clients.
Ben, who is originally from Sunderland, used to spend many weekends walking through Castle Carrock.
He said: "I would ask my Dad to lift me up to see it. I was obsessed with the big windows and wondering how you got a house like that. I was enthralled by the meadows and the house."
After TV success, Ben and Paul bought a little home that they planned to use as a second home - they would let it out - but they explained they loved it so much, they used it themselves. However, after signing onto Phantom, Ben was tied down to London for over two years.
That is when The Country House appeared on the market. Ben said: "I saw this house, and thought if ever I could, I wanted to try.
"Then it was, how do we afford it and make it work and restore it? It had plans to be split but we thought, how can we save it and enjoy it?"
As much as the pair would love to have lived there, they knew it had to be a holiday let. The renovation took over two and a half years, and they discovered issues like rot amongst the original features they knew they wanted to save.
The renovation was a team effort, the pair said: "We are lucky because we have the same taste and we both knew what the vibe should be.
"There were cracked windows and leaky walls but we both knew the vision. You get nervous if you can execute it but we knew what we wanted to do.
"We moved the kitchen from a backroom, which was a smaller room, to a big room that was used as a restaurant/bar space. We thought if we can make it work, we then have this view of the garden and an extra room downstairs.
"We added and split bathrooms into two to make en-suites; we found secret doors to make en-suites; we uncovered tiled floor in the hallways.
"It was like the gift that kept on giving, it was steeped in original features."
The pair launched an Instagram which blew up, and got them noticed by the Channel 4 show, Renovation Nation.
"It was really exciting. Initially, we were nervous in case we didn’t get it right, but after discussing it we couldn't say no. We want to restore this house, and a Channel 4 platform is an amazing way to get to know us and the house," they said.
Ben and Paul want the house to serve Cumbria, and not just as a holiday let. "We want the house to be used and experienced. We came up with the idea to host the workshops in the day," they said.
Two Christmas workshops have already been planned which include mince pie decorating with Julie Jones and wreath-making with Abigail Graham.
The workshops will be centred around the house, where you can explore and enjoy bubbles and canapes in the home.
Ben and Paul said: "We want to share the space with the local community. If we can offer more classes and workshops, it is nice to be able to show and bring people to Cumbria and let them know how amazing it is.
"We are keen to celebrate all things Cumbria and the local people, which is why we also have Julie and Abigail who are locals running the workshops.
"Many people who stay in the home come from afar for three nights a week, but this allows local people to use it for the day."
Going forward, the pair have ideas to host more events such as photography classes, cookery with Julie, live music nights, supper clubs - and Ben would love to do a musical theatre class.
The pair want to explore the outside of the home by doing things such as outdoor plays like Shakespeare, music and picnic nights.
"We are always talking about new things", they said.
You can check out the house on Instagram @thecountryhousediaries and book on their website.
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