Architect buys Withnail farmhouse

Mr Ellis was an under-bidder at an auction in February

A remote Cumbrian farmhouse made famous by the cult film Withnail & I has been sold for an undisclosed sum.

Architect Tim Ellis, 41, of Canterbury, has purchased Sleddale Hall, near Shap, from water company United Utilities.

He hopes to transform the ramshackle building, known in the 1986 film as Uncle Monty's Cottage, into a house.

A publican originally purchased the farmhouse at an auction earlier this year for £265,000 but the deal later fell through.

Mr Ellis, an under-bidder at the auction, said he was "delighted" to have been given a second chance to buy the building.

The farmhouse played a key role in the film

He said: "Sleddale is still readily recognisable as having been used in the film and I want to make reference to that with anything I do with the house.

"It's too early to say exactly how that will happen, but it will probably be by restoring the downstairs rooms which were used in the film, the ground floor kitchen and sitting area.

"I would like to be able to restore these as close to the period in the film as possible so that would mean no overhead lighting, radiators or other obvious modern intrusions."

He added any restoration would be subject to gaining planning permission from the local council.