Andrew Johnson takes a break as he is served tea by Barbara Zaccarelli. 17083WHEN author Virginia Woolf paid a visit to her sister's house in a Wiltshire village it resulted in a fiery outburst and scathing comments.

Now the house where Virginia exploded into one of her infamous rages is hoping to provide a sanctuary of peace and tranquillity by opening a tearoom.

During her only visit to Cleeve House, Seend, in 1906, the feminist author was in what one biographer called "one of her fantastic moods" labelling its inhabitants as having the bucolic health of brutes and mocking their intellectual limitations.

Now the custodians of Cleeve House are hoping the unhappy experience for Virginia will be a positive one for them, as they attempt to breathe new life into the country house.

Carlo and Barbara Zaccarelli have lived at Cleeve House since the 1970s, when it was a private school run by the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU).

Mrs Zaccarelli, 58, was headmistress at the school from 1975 until the mid 1980s, when it closed.

Since then the property has been used for youth camps but the couple, along with fellow custodians Andrew and Kayoko Johnson, are hoping to secure the house's long-term future.

Undertaking massive renovations, with the help of friends and neighbours, they plan to open a tearoom in a gothic wing, added on in 1907.

Mr Zaccarelli, 59, said the tearoom was part of a larger plan for the house, but promised its history would play an integral part in its future. Conference facilities and bed and breakfast are in the pipeline.

He said: "The tearoom is the starting point so people can come here and enjoy the house and its history.

"The history with Virginia Woolf and her connections with the house is very important to us.

"We want the house to be used and people to come here. Having changed ownership many times it did fall into a state of disrepair. I want to recreate the character of its past. It has taken a lot of time and effort but it is so rewarding."

Mrs Zaccarelli said: "I have very happy memories of Cleeve House, especially of the school and bringing up my children here. I don't think Virgina Woolf liked it here very much though."

Fellow custodian Mr Johnson has been in touch with the Bloomsbury Group about the house's history.

In Quentin Bell's biography Elders and Betters, he described how Virginia was visiting her elder sister Vanessa, who married English art critic and poet Clive Bell, and moved into his family's country home.

Both were members of the Bloomsbury Group a cultural circle of avant garde poets and authors who rejected society's Victorian views on everything from sexual to religious matters.

They were known for their tangled love lives.

Virginia, who was also a member of the group, was no fan of her brother-in-law, calling him a "funny little creature".

During her visit on New Year's Eve she wrote a letter from a table furnished with an inkpot made from a hoof, with the date and time of the animal's death inscribed on a silver cartouche.

Virginia commented "the place was populated by stuffed animals and to a large extent by living ones".

It is thought she took exception to her brother-in-law's millionaire father Col William Bell, who was known for his strict approach.

The Cleeve House tearooms will open at 10pm on Bank Holiday Monday, featuring a craft fair.