Date set for 'Downton Shabby' High Court trial

A date has been set for a former US filmmaker's High Court battle with a council over the ancestral stately home he spent seven years trying to restore.

Hopwood DePree had undertaken restorative work at Hopwood Hall in Middleton, Greater Manchester, since 2017. He claimed to have complied with an agreement with Rochdale Borough Council that had given him the option to buy the building for £1.

But after the council said he had not met the terms of the deal, DePree was locked out of the home in November 2024.

The property's future will now be subject to a High Court ruling, with a two-day trial set for 29 and 30 September.

The council had asked that the trial should take place over two days because of the amount of evidence put forward by DePree.

It said there were several paragraphs in DePree's witness statement that were "ripe for scrutiny" and would require cross examination.

DePree signed a deal with the council in 2017 over the ownership of the hall.

He got planning permission to refurbish it as an event and hospitality venue in 2022 and claims to have spent £750,000 of his own money on the project, later publishing a book called Downton Shabby about his efforts to restore the hall.

The council said any sale would depend on DePree having "a commercially viable business model to secure the long term future of the hall".

However, DePree said relations broke down when the council's Rochdale Development Agency became more involved in 2024.

Last November, the council decided not to renew the option agreement with DePree after consultants said his plans were "unlikely to be able to secure future public or private funding".

The authority said it "had a responsibility to explore alternative options" to "protect the public monies invested to date".

It also said DePree had not been able to produce "a viable proposal" despite having had seven years to do so.

At that point the council said it had spent £557,000 between 2017 and 2024 for essential repairs, with almost £1m contributed by Historic England.

The council said it was spending a further £700,000 on roof repairs and a feasibility study.

According to DePree's legal documents, the council has also argued that the planning permission was insufficient to meet the terms for a sale under the agreement.

DePree disputes the claim, and the council's claim that he needed a viable business model as part of the deal.

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