NORTH Aston Hall, a luxury mansion whose history has been dogged by controversy, is back on the market for £2.5m.

It is being sold by troubled engineering and construction company Kvaerner, based in Norway, whose president quit last October after a boardroom revolt over plummeting profits.

The company spent several hundred thousand pounds improving the house and grounds with private 18-hole golf course as "a residential centre for company directors and their families", say agents Strutt & Parker.

Kvaerner now has a new chief executive trying to dispose of some "non-core assets" in a bid to save several hundred million.

Kvaerner is believed to have paid about £1.6m in 1997 to buy North Aston Hall from Mr Michael Watson-Smyth, who had clashed with residents over plans to open the golf course to the public.

The company did a major refurbishment, built a new indoor leisure complex and improved the golf course, building new greens and tees, said Strutt & Parker.

The Jacobean mansion, five miles from Junction 10 of the M40, has 15 en-suite bedrooms, a coach house with staff flat, garages, indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna, and conference room. It comes with about 192 acres including the golf course and frontage to the River Cherwell. Jasper Fielding, of Strutt & Parker's Moreton in Marsh office, said: "This is a spectacular country house restored and refurbished to the highest standards.

"Every detail has been considered, right through from the heating and plumbing to the paint and wallpaper finishes. It is superb.."

Mr Fielding says he is looking for someone "who will value the space and facilities provided".

He said: "The buyer is more likely to be attracted by the accessible location rather than the golf course... but who knows?"

Story date: Friday 29 January

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.