The current building dates back to 1799 and was built for the London businessman George Ward, remaining in his family for five generations.

[4] As well as being available for private functions, the 26-acre estate also hosts a number of public events each year and still has its original tennis courts and bowling green.

It was originally located at the junction of the High Street and Market Hill, but was itself damaged in an air raid during the Second World War.

Surrounding the original entrance-way into the house, the tarmac area has now been converted into a pay short-stay car park, for public use.

[2] The only part of Belle Vue which still exists are the large cellars underneath Northwood House, said to have been originally built to hide smuggled goods.

[7] By this time, Ward had also acquired more land in Cowes, including Debourne Farm, bringing the estate up to 217 acres.

Nash also designed Buckingham Palace as well as many other island properties, including East Cowes Castle, the IW County Club and St Mildred's Church, Whippingham.

[12] Amongst other things, George Ward made his own fortune by lending money to the government during the Napoleonic Wars at highly beneficial rates of interest.

[14] In 1798, George Ward was nominated as a new sheriff in the Court of Exchequer[15] In 1803, his wife Mary had a baby daughter, born at the house.

[23] In 1823, Ward was commended for his 'munificent' generosity in distributing six bullocks and ten chaldrons of coals amongst the 'poor and deserving objects' of Cowes.

William Ward can also be thanked for saving the famous Lord's cricket ground from being sold to a housing developer in 1825.

In 1837, he vastly renovated the house, incorporating a new western wing, entrance pavilion and classical side wall.

In 1851, he became a professor of moral philosophy at St Edmund's College, Ware and in 1863 he became editor of the Dublin Review, a Catholic Periodical.

[37] In 1871, Ward moved the family seat to Totland, building Weston Manor and Headon Hall, at Alum Bay.

The guest list included Marquis, Viscounts, Earls, Lords, Counts, Knights, many men of military rank and their partners.

In 1886, the Royal Yacht Squadron again held their annual ball at Northwood House, with The Hungarian Band again supplying the music.

Other attendees included Princess Louise, the Marquis of Lorne, Prince Hermann of Saxe-Weimar and his wife and many Lords and Ladies of their day.

[48] In 1891, Northwood House was placed at the disposal of Prince Henry of Battenberg and his wife Beatrice, daughter of Queen Victoria.

They held a grand ball there, attended by several members of the royal family and 300 notable inhabitants of the Isle of Wight.

[49] The purpose for the event was to celebrate Prince Henry being named Governor of the Isle of Wight and keeper of Carisbrooke Castle, in succession to the late Viscount Eversley.

[53] Around the same time in 1901, Benedictine monks also settled in to Appuldurcombe House on the Isle of Wight, before eventually moving to Quarr Abbey where they still reside today.

Lacking an heir, the estate then briefly passed to Edmund's younger brother, Wilfrid Philip Ward, an essayist and biographer.

He was also one of the founders of the 'Synthetic Society', a Knowledge community that was formed from a lunchtime discussion that he had with the former prime minister Arthur Balfour in 1896.

[58] Ward was described as being one of "the two leading lay English Catholic thinkers of their generation"[59] and was a prominent member of the Oxford Movement.

[67] Following his father's death, the estate passed to Captain Herbert Joseph Ward, who like many of his predecessors, preferred to live elsewhere.

The deeds to the property were received by HRH Princess Beatrice on 4 September 1929 in her capacity as Royal Governor of the Isle of Wight.

During the Second World War the house was also used as a Red Cross first-aid station and as a base for air raid precaution wardens.

Parts of the ground were used for growing vegetables under the war effort's 'Dig For Victory' campaign, and there was also an air-raid shelter on the site.

[2] In 2004, The Isle of Wight Council renovated the downstairs rooms and moved the island's registrar's office into Northwood House.

The trades needed for the house include master craftsmen, cleaners, soft furnishing specialists and restoration workers.