This spring will see a stately home open as one of the grandest hotels in the North-East. Dan Jenkins met the man who is making it happen.

Beamish Hall has always held an allure for David Craggs. He was brought up in the shadow of the imposing stately home, next to the Beamish Museum, in County Durham, and played there as a boy.

The entrepreneur bought the Grade II-listed building last summer for an undisclosed, seven-figure sum, initially planning to turn it into luxury flats.

After a change of heart, he set out to restore its former splendour and open it as a five-star hotel. It is a process that he expects will cost him about £2m.

"We want to give it that feel of a country house and are spending money to restore that grandeur," he said.

There has been a Beamish Hall since the time of William the Conqueror. In the Norman language, the name is a corruption of the word Beauvis, meaning beautiful place.

Throughout the Middle Ages, the fortified manor was occupied by aristocrats, including the famous Percy family.

And, like all stately homes, it has its own ghost, the Grey Lady.

According to a centuries-old local legend, she was the daughter of a nobleman and had a doomed romance with the son of a rival noble at nearby Pockerley Manor, now part of the Beamish Museum.

In 1884, the Shafto family - whose most prominent member, Bobby, was immortalised in song - took possession through marriage.

They lived there until 1952, when death duties led to the sale of the hall. Mr Craggs has acknowledged the link by putting in a carpet bearing the Shafto family crest and a large-scale model of Bobby Shafto's ship.

After the Shaftos, the hall became the headquarters of the National Coal Board, then a residential college for Durham County Council.

The hall opened as a wedding and conference venue in 2000, but the huge investment needed to fully restore the building never materialised.

Mr Craggs began the 30-month refurbishment programme after he bought the 24-acre estate last year. The first phase, of improved facilities for weddings and conferences, is nearly complete.

"It is a fantastic looking building in idyllic surroundings," he said. Brides-to-be have a very definite picture of where they want to get married.

"As they come up the drive, they can see that Beamish Hall completely fits that picture."

He has an average of five weddings a week already booked, from May through to the end of December.

"We already have a very busy summer ahead of us with weddings and conferences," he said.

"We know the hotel bedrooms are fully booked and that will have a knock-on effect on the restaurant.

"We can make a business plan for staffing and how the building will function, based on what we can already see for the summer.

"It is a relief. If I was sitting here and had nothing coming up this summer, I would be a worried man."

By late spring, work on the first 13 bedrooms will be completed, each with double jacuzzi baths.

"They are palatial and in terms of luxury, are second to none," said Mr Craggs.

"We have looked at all the hotels of this nature in the region and are trying to go a step further."

The hall has already hosted more than 20 weddings and a string of events, from a New Year's Eve party to masonic lodge meetings.

"We actively encourage people to come and have a look around, because a large proportion of them are booking," he said.

A total of 60 bedrooms are being refurbished in three phases.

"We could do more, but decided that, rather than divide up some of the larger rooms, we would go for better quality," said Mr Craggs.

Once fully operational, the hotel will employ more than 100 people and turnover for its first full year, starting this May, is expected to reach £1m.

"Bookings have picked up dramatically compared to under the previous management," he said. "Commercially, this will be the hall's best year ever."

A wedding fair held last year proved such a success that the catwalk show had to be run three times, so that all the guests could see it. Another is planned for this spring.

Mr Craggs is in discussions to link the hotel with other leisure businesses in the north Durham area, such as the Beamish Golf Club next door, and the nearby riding school and shooting club.

The hotel is also hoping to attract some of the estimated 500,000 people who will visit the Beamish Museum this year.

The kitchen and restaurant will open in early spring. This is being presided over by North-East chef Richard Sim, a former UK Young Chef of the Year.

"With Richard as head chef, the standard of the food is the highest we can get," said Mr Craggs. The hall already offers silver service Sunday lunches in the Monboucher restaurant, which used to be the Shafto family's lounge, and regularly fills the 120-seat venue.

* Beamish Hall Hotel can be contacted on (01207) 233733.