Downton Shabby

Condition: BRAND NEW ISBN: 9780063080850 Author(s): Hopwood DePree Format: Hardcover Year: 2022 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc Pages: 320

Description: HGTV meets Downton Abbey!A‚ A ready-for-TV storyA?with charm and humor in abundanceA?about a Los Angeles producer who moves to England to save his ancestral castle from ruin.A?A true delight...In this marvelous debut, film producer DePree leaves the Hollywood hills to resurrect his British ancestral home, a 50,000-square-foot estate in the English countryside. Readers are in for a treat.'--Publishers Weekly (starred review)Hollywood producer Hopwood DePree had been told as a boy that an ancestorA?who he was named forA?had left his familyA?s English castle in the 1700s to come to America. One night after some wine and a visit to Ancestry.com, Hopwood discovered a photograph of a magnificent English estate with a familiar name: Hopwood Hall, a 60-room, 600-year-old grand manor on 5,000 acres. And with that, Hopwood DePreeA?s life took an almost fairytale turn.Hopwood Hall, in northwest England, wasA‚ indeed his familyA?s ancestral home. It had been occupied continuously by the Hopwood family for five centuries until the last remaining male heirs were killed in World War I. Since then, the Hall had fallen gradually into disrepair and was close to collapse. When Hopwood visited, he discovered trees growing in the chimneys, holes in the roof, and water sluicing down walls. It would take many millions to save the HallA?millions that Hopwood certainly didnA?t haveA?but despite the fact that he lived in Los Angeles and had no construction skills, Hopwood DePree came to a conclusion:A‚ He would save Hopwood Hall.Downton ShabbyA?the name Hopwood coined for the glorious ruinA?traces Hopwood DePreeA?s adventures as he gives up his life in Hollywood and moves permanently to England to save Hopwood Hall from ruin. But the task is far too big for one person, of course. Hopwood discovers that the Hall comes with an unforgettable cast o