WHEN Barbara Johnson and Peter Phillips set out to fulfil their dreams, the last thing they expected was to end up running the Morritt Arms Hotel.

The devious route which led them to Greta Bridge traced a path from Switzerland, where they met and fell in love, to America where their marriage fell apart.

But the couple have proved they are not afraid to have an 11th hour crack at making things work - in their personal or professional life.

Last year, they surprised people by putting the former seventeenth century coaching inn up for sale for £1.25m. They were due to clinch a deal with a London buyer on April 30, but over Easter they made the momentous decision to stay put and invest £500,000 on upgrading the building.

It was Ms Johnson, who runs the hotel, who decided she couldn't let it go.

Their buyer had taken a long time putting the deal together - to his cost.

"If the decision had come in January, I would have signed and I would have been absolutely mortified afterwards," she said. "I think someone up there gave us that breathing space to make us realise it was a mistake.

"The chap was disappointed, but we are still on the best of terms and he is poised to buy if the hotel comes on the market again."

It was their work with the international Dow Chemical Company which brought the couple together.

"We met in 1979 in Switzerland. I was in the personnel department and I actually signed Peter's transfer over from England."

Her husband had several opportunities to work on projects elsewhere over the years, but could never get a job for his wife at the same time.

But in 1988 they were able to get work together in Midland, Michigan, the American home of the Dow company. By then they had two daughters, Charlet and Georgette. Their youngest, Jaqui, was born in 1990.

"In the Nineties the company started to downsize and my assignment finished at the same time Barbara and I split up," said Mr Phillips. "I came back to Europe in 1991."

His job took him back to America almost every month, so he saw the family regularly.

"In late 1993, a week before the divorce was due, Peter came and asked if we could make a go of it again. I made him wait," his wife chuckled.

While Ms Johnson negotiated a golden handshake in Michigan, her husband and a colleague were trying to do the same thing in Switzerland.

"We were good friends with a couple there, started throwing ideas around and decided we all had dreams we wanted to fulfil," said Mr Phillips.

"Ian wanted to be a marketing consultant and Sue was very artistic and wanted to do collage work and I decided I'd like to work with wood."

"I did a lot of experiential training and visionary work with disadvantaged children in America and I wanted to set up a venture here," said Ms Johnson. "I was at the cutting edge of that work in the US and it hadn't really started off in Britain."

They set up a company, Dream Seen Ventures, and came to the North of England looking for an old country house to use as a base. But they hadn't reckoned how expensive it would be to find one in good repair.

"We registered with estate agents who specialised in hotels and were sent a thick sheaf of papers. The Morritt was on the top and was a lot cheaper, so we could spend money doing it up," said Mr Phillips. "It was also in the area we had looked at."

The two women took over the hotel while their husbands paid flying visits, until they were released from their jobs.

That was about the time reality kicked in. "We hadn't realised how much time and effort it took running a hotel," said Mr Phillips. "We had no experience. We had stayed in hotels all over the world and knew what they should offer. We had an expensive asset and had to make it work.

"There were only three of us, because by then Ian had set up his own business and had to work at that.

"After nine months, Sue decided it wasn't a dream situation. The hotel was making a horrendous loss at the time and Barbara and I decided to keep it going on our own. We struggled on and it took about two years to turn the business around."

"We put in everything we had and it came good." said his wife. "We had living accommodation for ourselves in a house behind the hotel and in the third year started to make a little bit of money. Business improved all the time. We put in a tremendous amount of work. We replaced plumbing and had to totally rewire everything. There was an amazing amount of work."

In 2000, they decided they wanted more of a family life away from the hotel atmosphere and finally decided to buy Neasham Abbey, near Darlington.

"We hired a general manager and just when we bought the abbey, he left," said Mr Phillips.

Then came the strains on the business from the foot-and-mouth outbreak plus a worrying period of ill-health for his wife. They decided to sell up, retire and enjoy village life.

Now their paths are likely to diverge while Ms Johnson takes on the mammoth task of revamping the hotel and her husband concentrates on the still challenging job of upgrading the abbey.

A former business director, he prefers the behind-the-scenes side of the hotel but still enjoys the "mine host" role on occasion.

He is also doing an Open University course in pure mathematics, out of interest, not for the qualifications.

"I am particularly interested in what goes on mathematically behind all those video games and computer software at the moment," he said.

Over at the Morritt Arms his wife is having a whale of a time. "People at work say I look 15 years younger now, I am just so relieved to be here.

"I am extending the restaurant and going to have a cocktail bar and residential lounge in that area. This year I intend to revamp the downstairs toilets. Next year I hope to refurbish the ballroom and add on a conservatory."

Some are ideas which the couple discussed with potential buyers. "Talking about it made us realise there was still a lot we could enjoy doing here," they agreed.