A FIRE-ravaged country house has been restored to its full Georgian splendour - keeping a literary legacy alive, writes BILL TANNER.

The blaze that razed Eardisley Park in 1999 cost the Morris-Jones family almost everything it owned.

Lost, too, was an inspiration for one of the world's greatest authors.

A past legal battle over ownership of the house is said to have provided Charles Dickens with the plotline pivotal to his 1853 masterpiece Bleak House.

But can-do spirit raised a phoenix from the ashes.

What local talent has achieved at Eardisley Park is a lesson to all those charged with caring for the county's heritage.

Here, Herefordshire has an inspiration for its past - and future.

EARDISLEY Park is a step back in time. Just two years ago it seemed its time was up.

This week The Georgian Group hailed the house - with its panoramic views across the Wye Valley - a text book example of heritage preservation.

To all intents and purposes the Eardisley Park that earned one of the Group's 2003 Architectural Awards is a replica of its 18th century self - with one embellishment on the original.

A carved Phoenix rises from the flames over the main door. This was an obvious metaphor, says owner Nigel Morris-Jones, but appropriate.

It would have been easy for he and his wife Jane to walk away from the smouldering shell that meet them on travelling up from London in January 1999. Easy to leave all that been lost to start up somewhere else.

But they were told how villagers had rushed to the scene to help whatever way they could, saw the sadness etched into their faces, heard the childhood memories 'the house' had fostered.

The Morris-Jones's were left with little choice. They owed Eardisley; they owed Herefordshire.