AFTER taking the ruin of a 14th century castle and transforming it into a family home and thriving business, architect Francis Shaw is preparing for his next challenge.

And this time he's going even further back into history, by setting his sights on building an authentic Roman villa.

After almost 12 years at Hellifield Peel, Francis and his wife, Karen, have put the ancient scheduled monument and one of the stars of television's Grand Designs on the market with Carter Jonas for £1.65 million.

They plan to stay in Yorkshire for a while, because of their children's schooling in Skipton, before heading off down South to build a Roman villa.

"I have the mentality of a seven-year-old and a very understanding wife," said Mr Shaw, who in addition to being an architect, is also a painter and plans to do the mosaics and frescos for the villa himself.

Although the couple have no particular site in mind, Mr Shaw is already working with archaeologists and is prepared for long consultations with the local planning authority.

"I have looked at several sites, but I am in no rush," he said.

The origins of Georgian architecture lie in Roman villas and the 18th century gentlemen who travelled to Italy and returned to build their versions of classical buildings at home, he says.

But his villa will not be a modern pastiche, but one as close to the original as he can make it.

Meanwhile, less than a week after going on the market, around 13,000 people have viewed the details of Hellifield Peel on the Right Move website and several hundred brochures have been dispatched by the Harrogate based agents. Open days are also planned to cope with the high level of interest.

The thriving bed and breakfast business, which will close at the end of July, has been fully booked ever since Francis and Karen announced it would be closing earlier this year.

"As soon as we announced we were closing people who have come again and again were booking and we're now completely booked up," he said.

Following the success of Grand Designs, people from all over the world booked into the bed and breakfast, keen to view the building for themselves.

Many were professional builders and planners keen to see for themselves the end result of such a challenging project.

Whoever buys the castle will not only get a sumptuous family home, 'great for entertaining' but a magnificent piece of Yorkshire history.

Peel Tower dates back to 1305 and was built by one of the last Templar Knights, Sir John Harcourt.

It was on the route for the marauding Scots who regularly invaded vast tracts of Northern England in the Middle Ages. For most of its life, it was owned by the Hamerton family. It was used as a prisoner of war camp before being bought by furniture maker Harry Lund in the 1940s and was also used as a magistrates' court.

The Shaws bought the property in 2004 and spent the next three years and £800,000 restoring it because it had always been Francis's dream to live in a castle.

It went on to feature on television's Grand Designs in 2007 and again in 2009, when it was watched by more than six million people, and became one of presenter Kevin McCloud's favourites.

Nominated for a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Award, the Peel is one of the few scheduled monuments in private ownership in Yorkshire and, thanks to its appearances on Grand Designs, is known across the world.

Francis, co-founder of Shaw Jagger Architects in Harrogate, has even installed a ground source heat pump at the property making it fuel efficient and not reliant on oil.

The 7,297 sq ft property includes six double bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, a reception hall, cloakroom, drawing room, dining room, sitting room, study, living room, utility room, laundry room and boiler room.

It also features a penthouse suite with far reaching views to Pendle Hill, roof terrace and gardens extending to two acres.

For more details contact Carter Jonas, Harrogate caterjonas.co.uk or peelcastle.co.uk