BONNY Bobby Shafto would certainly fail to recognise his old home in the coming months.

For final permission for the conversion of Beamish Hall, next to Beamish Museum near Stanley, into a hotel complete with restaurants, bars, function rooms and offices was granted by Derwentside District Council on Thursday.

The permission was the last piece in the jigsaw for the new owners of the Grade II* listed building, one of the most historic in the region and which was once owned by the famous Shafto family immortalised in a nursery rhyme.

The move comes days after hotel company, Holt Castle Enterprises which bought the place from Durham County Council for £500,000 in 2000, opened its first restaurant in the building after previously receiving permission for limited changes.

The history of the site goes back to at least 1068 when William the Conqueror gave the land to Guilbert de-la-Leigh, although the site may have been in the hands of prominent Anglo-Saxons before that.

The hall was later the centre of Catholic rebellions against both King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth and was seized by Crowmwell in the Civil War.

Principal planning officer at Derwentside District Council, Darren Cuming, recommended approval for the hall's conversion into a hotel to be granted. He said: "It is difficult to imagine what other use the hall could realistically be utilised for.