But when the grounds are haunted by spirits some might consider it to be more like a nightmare.

Not for Blackpool businessman Basil Newby who lived in the great Mowbreck Hall, Wesham, during the 1960s.

He said: "I lived there from when I was eight until I was 15 – it was an amazing place.

"When we moved there people would tell me stories. The housekeeper, Evelyn, wouldn't go anywhere near the chapel because she said she saw the head of a priest who'd been beheaded.

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"There was also a massive portrait of Lord Derby, who once owned the property, and his eyes would follow you. There was definitely something there."

Mr Newby recalls how schoolfriends saw a ghostly figure walking across the lawn with dogs at night.

He said: "Lord Derby had a hunting lodge and a graveyard for his dogs under an oak tree.

"There were stories the ghost of Lord Derby would walk around the grounds with the dogs following.

"One night we were camping out and my friend saw a figure pass the lawn with dogs following behind. But he didn't know anything about Lord Derby and his dogs."

Mr Newby's parents, Ken and Faye Newby, bought the hall in the 1960s.

They reported hearing whistling in rooms when no-one was in the house.

Mr Newby added: "They would go into the room where they heard the whistling because they thought they might have locked someone in.

"But the noise would then move into the next room, and the next. It was so strange."

Ghostly

Some other proprietors of Mowbreck Hall have also reported ghostly- goings on. In 1955, The Gazette reported how John Waterhouse heard the footsteps belonging to the ghost of a butler who hanged himself.

And in 1968 proprietor Ellis Kit told The Gazette: "At night I hear noises of somebody walking about. I get up and look but there is nobody there."

Mowbreck Hall was sadly destroyed by fire some years ago. But do ghosts still walk the grounds where the grand manor house once stood?

Call reporter Julia Bennett on (01253) 361728 with any sightings.