[5] Luxurious decoration included plasterwork frieze with pearls in the ballroom,[4] marble fireplaces and ivory doorhandles.

[1] The house was furnished by the Lancaster-based firm Gillow's,[2] though the Dents also brought furniture from the East.

There, he found a number of items, including 16th-century statuettes from the Mughal Empire left behind by his ancestors.

Some had been moved, including an antique bed held in the Durham University Museum of Oriental Art.

[1] Flass was purchased from Welsh in 1982 for £115,000 by the retired solicitor Malcolm Whiteside, who ran the property as a care home with his wife, Mary.

[10] In the early 2010s, it was available to purchase or rent as "totally private and hidden away, with an unmatched seclusion and charm".

[4] However, in 2012, police discovered that a criminal gang had sealed off the rooms of the house to cultivate cannabis.

Police observed and subsequently raided the property, finding equipment, compost, and a large "mother" plant.

[10] The house became popular with urban explorers, leading to widely viewed videos being posted online and prosecutions for burglary.