An iconic figure on the Manchester music scene from the 1960s has just put his Grade II listed Cheshire home up for sale and it looks absolutely incredible.
Dating back to the 18th century, Hulgrave Hall is owned by Keith Hopwood.
Mr Hopwood – from Davyhulme – was one of the founding members of Manchester band Herman’s Hermits, where he provided rhythm guitar and backing vocals for the popular band who had a hit No. 1 single with their chart debut ‘I’m Into Something Good’ in 1964 and sold in excess of 80 million records.
Hopwood has since turned his hand to music production, meaning Hulgrave Hall’s dedicated recording studio has been used by a fair few famous names over the years.
Sitting in 10 acres of stunning Cheshire countryside, the tastefully-decorated five-bedroom property – which is located in Tiverton, near Tarporley in Cheshire – is set against the backdrop of the stunning Beeston and Peckforton castles.
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The country home – which offers manicured gardens and traditional Georgian architecture – includes a main house which extends across three levels and a separate cottage, plus the two-storey barn building which houses the studio and office.
Other outbuildings include a separate gym and a dedicated workshop.
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It boasts plenty of original period features throughout, with exposed wooden beams and rustic stone fireplaces, along with a library, dining room, drawing room and wine cellars too.
Rightmove / Jackson-Stops
Not only is it an impressive property visually, but as mentioned, it’s also steeped in music history.
As the base for Hopwood’s successful studio business, Pluto Music, the fully-equipped professional music room has seen bands including The Clash and The Smiths make use of the services over the years, and the studio has composed music for TV productions such as The Wind in the Willows, The BFG and Bob the Builder, among many others.
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Keith Hopwood told the MEN: “My family and I have lived in Hulgrave Hall for the past three decades. It’s been the most fantastic home for us and ticked all the boxes in terms of what we were looking for – a large outdoor garden and entertaining area, my own studio space, many original property features and beautiful views from the grounds.
“The minute we saw this property we fell in love – it was perfect for us.
“We’ve had a few famous faces on the grounds over the years, including Jason Donovan, Neil Morrissey and Stacey Soloman, however, before all that the property was actually a working Georgian farm, and then renowned for equestrian and racehorse training – even housed famous racehorse Red Rum in the stables for a short time.
“It’s a great location as well, with easy access to neighbouring villages and not too far to commute to and from London, when needed.
“We’re sad to be leaving but I’m sure that the next homeowners will love this home just as much as we have.”
Hulgrave Hall is currently on the market with Chester-based estate agent Jackson-Stops for £1.75m.
You can find the full property listing on Rightmove here.
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Man City hoping to snap up promising Liverpool youngster with multiple clubs monitoring
Danny Jones
Manchester City are hoping to secure the signature of a rising Liverpool star who is already looking like one to watch, but they’ll have to wrestle with a number of teams if they want to get their man.
For starters, his parent club don’t want to let him go, but they have until this summer to lock him into a new deal, with suitors ready and waiting in the wings.
The promising youth player in question is Josh Abe, who is just 15 years old but has already made a bit of sporting history on Merseyside and even in Europe.
Having already scored a hatful of goals at various levels, several Premier League outfits are now monitoring his contract situation, with Abe still yet to commit his future to Melwood and possible Liverpool first-team opportunities – and it’s not hard to see why so many want him…
The Warrington-born winger has registered eight goals and a trio of assists for the under-18s this season, including a standout performance against Derby, as well as a hat-trick against Leeds United earlier this month.
Cementing himself in the record books as their youngest ever scorer at that level, he also happened to play a key role in their 3-2 win over Oliver Reiss’ side back in October, grabbing a goal and assisting as they beat City in the division for the first time in half a dozen years.
But he’s impressed beyond just LFC ranks, too.
In addition to becoming the youngest Liverpool product to ever feature in the UEFA Youth League, he has also been called up to England’s U16s.
With early nods of recognition across the board, it’s little surprise that he’s now trained with Arne Slot’s senior squad on more than one occasion.
However, scousers are still waiting to see his full professional debut, as it looks like his employers have a fight on their hands to keep the fast-progressing young forward.
As per The Athletic‘s James Pearce, Man City look to be leading their pursuit for Josh Abe not only as a major rival club and the next nearest destination, but because of the increased wages they could theoretically offer him as an aspiring pro and potential future prospect.
On the other hand, if Liverpool do fail to tie him down, his agency, PLG – headed up by Tyler Alexander-Arnold, the brother of Trent – will be free to negotiate from June 1 onwards if he doesn’t extend his stay – it could be a three-horse race to snap him up.
Apart from City, both Chelsea and Arsenal are said to be interested in recruiting him, and with it being reported that teenaged attacker’s father is a lifelong Gunner, they could pose an added threat to the Blues sealing a transfer.
Then again, we’ve seen Chelsea continue to swallow up talent all over the country for their academy time and time again, plus they’ve been pretty lax when it comes to the salary budget for years now. All that being said, the CFG (City Football Group) could face quite a scrap should Abe decide to leave Liverpool.
Naturally, he’s already been the subject of a ‘future wonderkid’ highlights reel on YouTube; you can see some of his best moments so far down below.
Have you seen clips of him before, and/or are you buying into the hype?
The best cheese tasting party in the North is BACK at a new Manchester venue
Danny Jones
That’s right, one of the biggest and best cheese tasting nights in the entire land is returning to Greater Manchester at a brand new city centre venue.
Not to be over-the-top, but this isn’t just another experience sampling possibly the greatest foodstuff on Earth, it’s a fully-fledged cheese-lovers’ party.
Some of you may have come across Homage2Fromage before, but for anyone unaware of the Yorkshire-born event, it started out as a monthly cheese tasting club and went on to expand across the dairy-adoring North at large.
Relaunching here in Manchester for 2026, all you lactose-intolerant people better watch, because Home2Fromage is coming back with a vengeance and heading to the Northern Quarter. Here’s how it went down the last time we visited one in Leeds:
Leeds, Sheffield, Harrogate, Manchester and who knows where else next.
Posting up in a relatively recent addition to NQ‘s bar and restaurant scene, The Faraday – a pub on Lever St that replaces the old Seven Sins back in October – it looks set to be an ideal venue for the regular evening series.
Homage2Fromage will be making its Manc return this month, and better still, they’re holding a cheeky little giveaway to sweeten the pot.
As in the deal, we mean – not the inevitable bowls full of olives, chutney, oil and various other dips…
To welcome this celebration of all things cheese coming back to Manchester city centre, they’re giving away a bunch of free tickets: 20 pairs in total.
Worth over £50 a piece for each twin set of tickets, you’d be a fool not to at least throw your hat in the ring for this one.
As you can see, the competition closes this Thursday, 19 February, ahead of the full relaunch party next week (Wed, 25 Feb), and all you have to do to enter is fill out this super quick survey.
It really is as simple as that; a few quick words are all that stand between you and a potential mountain of cheese and more.
You can find all you need to know about the event right HERE, and in case you haven’t popped into The Faraday just yet, see more down below.
It’s still somewhat early days, but we can see ourselves spending a fair bit of time in this up-and-coming Manchester watering hole, especially when there’s cheese nights involved.
Emily Sergeant -
5th October 2020 
