Steve Holloway

With no official heirs to take the house on, it was passed on to her cousin, Robert Lyle, and then on to John Lyle after Robert's death in 1948.

By 1953, Flitig Manor was put on the market and was in the hands of private ownership until it was sold and turned into a restaurant in 1984, then a hotel in 1986.

It was then sold again in 1990, becoming a hotel operated by the Menzies Group first, but then taken over by Best Western a few years later, which it still is today.

It was awarded a Grade II listing in 1961.

And although there doesn't seem to be any records of violent deaths or horrific torture like you'd find in the history of many castles, Flitting Manor has a surprising reputation for paranormal phenomena.

There's a long-standing belief among paranormal investigators and ghost hunters which suggests that making modifications or renovations to an old property can awaken things which have remained dormant for decades, even hundreds of years.

This is seemingly what happened in the mid-90s, after the building was taken over by the Menzies group.

To fully embrace the look that was needed for the hotel, a series of large-scale renovations began.

This not only affected the inside of the building, but also the exterior, as large sections of the roof needed desperate repairs, and because the whole house had tilted slightly, large supporting rods were required to be fitted to literally hold the building together.

It was builder Jim Sparks who was in charge of the project and soon the house was surrounded by a web of scaffolding, with workers beginning to strip the tiles from the roof and drilling holes for the external supporting rods.

The work inside was completed quite quickly and without incident, and this allowed the owners to open the hotel for business while the external work took place.

The noise was fairly contained throughout the day, and the work never went on too late, so as not to disturb the customers.

Hotel manager Sonia Banks had been there for quite a while, and so had receptionist Lydia Dawson.

Both women had a firm grasp on the hotel business, had experience, knowledge of how to treat customers, and above all, knew the hotel like the back of their hands.

Or so they thought.

It was during the roofing renovations that Jim and his team made a mysterious discovery.

After removing a section of tiles and brickwork near one of the chimney stacks, they found a small doorway.

What was a doorway doing hidden underneath the bricks and roof tiles?

What was it for?

Who put it there?