A £5 million project to restore a 280-year-old stately home is nearing completion.

The last of the metal shutters, which blocked out light from Stanmer House in Stanmer Park, Brighton, for years, are due to be taken down.

The landscaping of the courtyard and gardens will also be finished by June 17 when the building reopens as a glittering gallery, wedding and conference venue.

Two years ago the house, built in 1722 by the Pelham family, was a derelict shell.

The entrance hall had been painted lime green by previous occupants, the University of Sussex, and a bust of Thomas Pelham, later valued at £30,000, had been decorated with a red moustache.

As work began in earnest in January 2005, ceilings caved in and builders discovered the walls of what is now an opulent function room were teeming with maggots.

Businessman Mike Holland, who recently bought the British Engineerium in Hove and helped save Newlands School in Seaford, is behind the restoration.

His company, Cherrywood Investments, was one of four bidders competing to lease Stanmer House from the city council, which took over the building in the Fifties.

Mr Holland said: "I just really could not see anything happening with it. There were a lot of people talking about doing things but it was just going to be more rhetoric.

"I felt that the correct use for it would be to turn it into something that could be used by the community.

"It's somewhere people can get married, you can have the office party or hold conferences."

In line with English Heritage regulations, which oversaw the project, the Grade I-listed house will be open to the public for 100 hours a year.

The Argus secured a sneak preview of the transformation yesterday.

We were greeted by Del Boy and Uncle Albert lookalikes from Only Fools And Horses, the ghost of a maid rumoured to haunt the house and a Queen impersonator as we toured the building.

Five miles of cable have been laid beneath the floorboards to equip each of the building's function rooms with conference and wireless internet facilities.

Plasma screen televisions can broadcast live events to the internet so relatives can watch weddings from all over the world.

One of the first events at the house is a civil partnership ceremony.

This will make use of the 24 £2,000 lights set into the pavement, which will turn the exterior of the house a brilliant shade of pink.

The arched ceiling basement will be used for themed evenings including murder mystery parties, medieval banquets and wine tastings.

Mr Holland said: "It has been fun but it's been an absolute slog for 18 months. I knew we would get to this stage eventually but it seemed like it would take forever when we first started.

"Getting planning permission and having the materials approved took a while but we just grabbed the bull by the horns and went for it."

Elliott Maurice, project manager, added: "It has been fantastic working on this project.

"It's just wonderful being able to restore it and turn it back into the party house it was originally built as."