AN ENGLISHMAN'S home is his castle, they say, but when you live in a Ribble Valley mansion house, home is big business and a lot of hard work.

But Cliff Walmsley and his family knew just what they were doing when they bought the derelict Whiteholme country house at Slaidburn.

It was love at first sight for Cliff and his wife Maureen and in the two years since they bought it they have already developed their entrepreneurial skills and have done their bit for the tourist industry at the same time!

The country mansion was built in 1850 as the estate house for the King-Wilkinson family of Slaidburn.

It passed onto another local man over 10 years ago and had remained empty and decaying since then.

In the meantime Mr Walmsley, a gent's outfitter by profession with shops in Accrington and Chester, decided that he needed to spend more time at home with his wife and their young son Clifford who is autistic and his elder sister Kathryn.

Mrs Walmsley said: "We had spent several years renovating farmhouses and selling them on and then we saw Whiteholme. We both fell in love with the place and we just had to have it.

"Our heads were full of plans for all kinds of projects within the property so we sold the shops and Whiteholme became a full time job for both of us."

The couple spent their first 12 months as owners of the huge house and grounds living in a caravan while essential repair and refurbishment work was carried out.

There was dry rot, wet rot, no plumbing to speak of and no heating, but over the first year the couple, with the help of local builders, converted the coach house into a self-catering business for up to 12 people.

That has been in operation now for the last 12 months with some success.

At the same time as the first stage of the Whiteholme plan, Mr and Mrs Walmsley and their family moved into the main house.

Mrs Walmsley said: "The place is just huge and we have spent practically every day since we bought it working on it, decorating, renovating and cleaning.

The next phase of the development was opening the former butler's court yard as two self-catering units. That came to fruition two weeks ago and bookings are already coming in.

And this Easter saw the latest phase of Whiteholme up and running with the launch of a Victorian tea room in the ornate dining room of the main building.

Mrs Walmsley will be catering every weekend and on bank holidays.

She added: "I have had years of practice hosting dinner parties for friends

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