She is the Hampshire hotel’s longest-staying guest, who comes and goes without warning and has never paid a penny for her accommodation.

Like many of the county’s hotels, the historic Botleigh Grange, now celebrating 60 years of being owned by the same family, is not without its resident ghost and haunted chamber.

According to legend a former owner of the property is said to have kept his daughter confined in one of the principal bedrooms owing to the lady having become “enamoured of a certain knight’’.

Marks made by her phantom fingernails on the door, in her frantic efforts to escape before dying of starvation were visible for many years, while her spirit is said to still walk the landing at the hour of midnight.

Today the Botleigh Grange Hotel and Spa is still as familiar to owner David Plumpton as it was the day his family acquired the property 60 years ago.

Formerly a private country house, the four-star hotel was purchased in 1949 by David’s grandmother, Lucy, who was an experienced hotelier from Norfolk.

David’s parents, Jack and Margaret, took over the running of the hotel and the building, together with its extensive 25 acres of grounds, became a playground for their son.

Now aged 61, David looks back fondly on his earlier days at the hotel. David still owns it, but it is now managed by the Legacy Hotels and Resort Group.

David said: “It was a fabulous place to grow up as a child, as there was so much freedom and space to roam about in and, of course, there were always people buzzing about to keep me entertained.

“I actually wanted to be a farmer when I grew up, but not having a farm put paid to that and I went off to college to learn how to run a hotel and eventually took over Botleigh Grange after my father died in 1974.’’ The property was originally owned by shipbuilder and contractor Thomas Hellyer Foord, who purchased the 100-acre estate in 1868.

It was Foord who added a clock tower complete with Westminster chimes over the entrance, along with an oak-panelled dining room.

Being fond of animals, Foord established a herd of 200 deer on the estate, and the occasional deer can still be viewed strolling around the grounds of the hotel.

The house remained in the Foord family after Thomas’s death – at the age of 93 in 1917 – until it was sold as a selection of lots in 1923.

The house went up for sale with 25 acres and two lakes.

When David took over the hotel he introduced discos, fine dining and, in the light of the property’s wandering spectre, even ghostbuster-themed weekends during the 1980s.

David stayed at the helm at Botleigh Grange until last year, when he recruited Legacy to run the day-to-day hotel operations, although he still remains firmly involved in the business.

“It has been such a privilege to have had such a long-standing relationship with Botleigh Grange,’’ said David.

“It is a special place and I am sure it will continue to play an important role in my life for some time yet.’’