Video: Wartime evacuees return to find their wartime home is now a luxury hotel

Then, a group of guests arrived at Swinton Park, Masham, in very different circumstances, having been evacuated from their school in Harrogate during the Second World War.

A group of former pupils from Harrogate Ladies' College returned to the house yesterday to tour the building which was both their home and their school for six years during the war.

They also met the current generation of pupils who used the visit as a history lesson.

Former pupil Peggy White, who went on to become the Lord Mayor of Leeds, said: "It has brought back memories for us because as soon as you walk into certain rooms you remember being taught here. The house wasn't set up to be a school but they did a fantastic job converting it. The stables became bathrooms and the kennels were used for music lessons.

"We have met with girls from the college and have been able to compare our lives then with theirs now. We probably had a lot more freedom at Swinton Park than they have now but of course there was rationing of food so we were often hungry."

Harrogate Ladies' College pupil Hannah Sales, 15, said: "Meeting the evacuees has made the war seem more real. They have told us about the people they knew who were fighting in the war and just makes the whole situation seem more realistic."

During the visit the evacuees were also given a lunch using ingredients which would have available during the war which was provided by the cookery school based at Swinton Park.

The building was converted into a hotel in 2001 by Baron and Baroness of Masham, Mark and Felicity Cunliffe-Lister.