MANY hotels can boast a room with a view, but for one hotelier it is just the opposite.

The 12th century Manor House Hotel in West Auckland is so steeped in history it has plenty of tales to tell.

A former monastery with its own brewery, a hunting lodge for King Henry VIII, the home of the Eden family for 300 years and a brewery again, the house certainly has a chequered history.

But until a few weeks ago it held a secret that had remained undiscovered for longer than living memory.

The hotel's owner, Mr John Sanderson, found a large attic room, with no apparent access from outside or within, by breaking through a small trapdoor in one of the bedroom ceilings.

There is no staircase, no door, and the only windows, at one end of the room, were bricked up long ago.

Mr Sanderson believes the room, which is completely boarded out, was originally made as a priest's bolt-hole or a concealed hiding place in the event of an attack.

He said: "There is a tunnel running from the house which goes all the way under the village green to a house on the other side. I believe this was probably an escape route. If it was too late to escape, the room could have been used to hide in, as you can only get into it from the corner of one of the first floor bedrooms.

"Originally, another building backed on to the end where the windows were, so it was completely invisible from outside. The trapdoor would have been easy to conceal with some sort of cupboard and people searching the inside of the house would have been unlikely to spot it."

Having discovered the room, Mr Sanderson is now left with a conundrum. He would like to use the additional space, but how does he provide access?

"The building is grade I listed, so any major alterations are out of the question," he explained. "We are currently trying to work something out with the local planners and English Heritage.

"It's such a large, historic room it seems a shame not to open it up to the public."