Bridgnorth hotel restoration: First look at £3 million plans for The Mill left gutted after blaze
Once a landmark building, The Mill at Alveley was burned to the ground in an arson attack that turned the night air red.
But now it is rising again as part of a £3 million project to transform the site into an exclusive wedding venue.
Ben and Sarah Reeves are turning the site of the former hotel into a barn specifically for weddings.
The £3 million project will be completed early summer ready for the wedding season next year, and weddings are already being booked even though the work is only just beyond foundation level.
The plans feature three single-story oak framed barns, capable of providing space for wedding parties of up to 170 people, plus accommodation for 50 or 60 guests.
There will be about 50 local jobs created next year.
Mr and Mrs Reeves, who run of Ensarb Estates, bought the site at auction for almost half a million last year.
The couple have previously renovated The Ashes at Endon in Staffordshire and also run Pendrell Hall in Codsall Wood.
The previous hotel, which overlooked picturesque gardens and a pool, dated back to the 16th century and was popular with couples tying the knot from across the Midlands.
The former flour mill shut its doors unexpectedly in late September 2014, leaving staff locked out and couples facing a battle over their deposits for weddings.
It burned down in May 2015, creating one of the biggest blazes firefighters have had to deal with in the county.
Firefighters remained on the scene for four days after the hotel complex was completely destroyed, with crews dampening down and searching for hot spots.
Now Mr and Mrs Reeves hope to bring a happy ending to the saga by again bringing life to the Mill site.
Mr Reeves said: "We're building an L-shape building, with a barn for ceremonies, a barn for the banquet and a large country barn with a large terrace going out over the mill pond.
"We've got a full dance floor, the whole day should flow really nicely from one room to the next.
"The first wedding is booked for July 2017 – the barn will be ready early summer. We've done all the big structural work.
"There will be an outdoor pond on top of one building, with a bridge leading people over, it will be a very impressive entrance.
"It's like doing a traditional building as a new build, we're trying to make it all as natural as possible, like we're adding grass roofs to the accommodation buildings.
"All of our venues are completely exclusive use and they're all in different sorts of settings. There's not many places with purpose-built wedding venues.
"We've got people travelling from all over the country to have a look which is fantastic. We have had a huge amount of interest and people have fully booked their weddings before there was any building at all. We have viewings in hard hats and high-vis vests."
Mr Reeves said nothing from the previous establishment could be saved after the fire, so they have started from the beginning.
He said: "From what I hear from the local people they were very pleased it wasn't going to turn into a housing development. The thing that attracted us to this was the established setting."
