• American actor, screenwriter and producer Hopwood DePree discovered his family’s ancestral home while doing online research.
• When DePree moved to near Manchester, England, to rescue Hopwood Hall, the 600-year-old estate was all but ruined.
• Downton Shabby: One American’s Ultimate DIY Adventure Restoring His Family’s English Castle publishes with William Morrow (HarperCollins) on May 31.

LONDON – Many people searching genealogy websites for information about their ancestors encounter poignant geographical details, long-lost relatives or historical insights – good, bad and ugly. 

Michigan-born actor, screenwriter and producer Hopwood DePree found an abandoned, but once-resplendent 50,000-square-foot estate in the English countryside – his family’s ancestral home where his 14th great-grandfather was born.