A RECENTLY re-opend South Zeal guesthouse welcomed a very special visitor last week ? the great, great grand-daughter of the man who originally built the secluded thatched cottage.

Joyce Aggett was staying at Poltimore Guest House for the first time since she left at the age of eight, more than 50 years ago.

Mrs Aggett now lives in Leeds, but she grew up living with her grand-father and mother and father in the thatched cottage outside South Zeal.

Mrs Aggett said coming back to the house brought back a lot of memories.

?I am staying in the room I slept in when I was growing up. I love nostalgia,? she said.

Mrs Aggett said her grandfather, Walter Aggett, ran the cottage as a guesthouse for around 13 years before the war, and she was pleased to see it welcoming visitors again.

She said her grandfather was a staunch attender of services at the Methodist Chapel in the village.

Mrs Aggett said she appreciated the peace and quiet of Devon as opposed to the hubbub of Leeds: ?It is so nice and quiet here. My grandad never used to lock the door unless we heard a prisoner from Dartmoor was on the loose,? she recalled.

Mrs Aggett?s great, great-grandfather, Richard Aggett, is believed to have built the cottage some time in the 1840s.

Although Mrs Aggett said she had returned to Devon on holiday a number of times, and had driven past the house before, this was the first time she had been back inside.

During her stay, she visited the village primary school, which she said had changed ?quite a bit? since she was a pupil there, more than 50 years ago. She also had the chance to visit the Eden Project, Exmouth and Dartmouth.

Mrs Aggett said: ?It is lovely to see the property has been restored as a hotel and the name Poltimore has been kept; my grandfather would have approved.?

Among the guests who stayed in the rooms at the cottage during the 1930s was the famous film star Ronald Colman.

Diane Radford, who runs the guesthouse with her husband Ben and daughter Selena, said she had really enjoyed having Mrs Aggett to stay. ?She has filled in a lot of gaps. There are lots of questions I had about the history of the house. I think you always want to know who has lived in a house before you.?

The guesthouse re-opened in March this year, after the new owners had spent several months refurbishing the property.