Source: The Guardian
With his blinding white smile, tanned skin and bleached blond hair, the new American owner of one of the north of England’s most important manor houses does not travel incognito.
“Mr Hopwood, is that you?” The middle-aged women walking their dogs were very excited to encounter Hopwood DePree driving down the crater-filled lane to Hopwood Hall in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.
“How are you finding England?” one asked, giggling. “A bit different from Los Angeles, I bet.” Word has spread quickly in Rochdale that Hopwood Hall, the grandest stately home in the borough and one-time residence of Lord Byron, has a new guardian…