in 1858, his eldest son John Hatfield Brooks (1824–1907) inherited the manor. Major John Hatfield Brooks was educated in Rugby, Warwickshire and later became an officer in the 1st Bengal Light Cavalry. He served over in British India. It was in Calcutta that he married Sophia Margaret Cloete in 1850. The couple had two daughters. When John died in 1907, his eldest daughter Catherine Mary Frances Brooks (1853–1934) inherited the house. Catherine did not marry and lived in the house until she died at the age of 81 in 1934. Her obituary outlined her work in the village of Flitwick and praised her generosity. When she died she had no heirs so she left the property to her cousin Robert Adolphus Lyall (1876–1948). When he died in 1948 it was left to John Comyn Lyall. He advertised it for sale in 1953. Later history After being advertised for sale, Flitwick Manor was bought by Anthony Gilkison, a film director, who lived there until the early 1970s, when it was purchased by The Saxby Family. The manor stayed in private hands until 1984, when it was converted to a restaurant. This was sold in 1990 and the manor is now a hotel, operated by Best Western. In 2009, the main park including the arboretum and two adjoining fields to the south of the property were acquired by Flitwick Town Council to preserve it for the community. Access to the public is available during daylight hours. Disabled parking is available at the main entrance to the park on the corner of Dunstable Road and Church Road Reputed haunting Flitwick Manor is reputedly haunted, and these stories have sometimes been used for publicity since it became a hotel. The manor was featured in the episode "The Jim Twins/Flitwick Ghost" of the television series Strange but True? in 1995. Architecture The main part of the existing house is the entrance block which dates from the early 18th century. It is two-storeys and is built of red brick. This block encases the earlier 17th century house and has a mansard roof below a parapet. The architectural style is Georgian, in contrast to the garden frontage which is later and was undertaken in a Gothic Revival style. Charles O'Brien, in his 2014 revised Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Peterborough, in the Pevsner Buildings of England, series, identifies earlier work from the late 17th century and later, 19th and