BELMONT House in Lyme Regis - once home to literary giant John Fowles - has always been a landmark building in every sense of the word.

It is now literally a landmark building after the Landmark Trust took over the building in 2007.

It subsequently embarked of a £2m+ restoration project - for which it won an prestigious architecture award from the Georgian Group.

Its judges said the Landmark Trust's restoration choices were 'brave and controversial'.

They said: "The project has been informed by meticulous building analysis and documentary research and the building is now again a thing of real beauty, a delightful monument."

The trust, which specialises in restoring at risk heritage buildings and then letting them out for self-catering holidays, opened the newly-restored Belmont, a Grade II* listed 18th-century seaside villa, in September 2015 after eight years of painstaking research and two years of work on site.

Now it is giving the public the chance to see the end result.

The free public open days between 10am and 4pm on Saturday September 10 and Sunday September 11 are part of Heritage Open Days.

Media spokesman Amy Taylor said: "A pretty eighteenth-century villa by the sea, Grade II* listed Belmont on Pound Street is a fine example of the type of maritime villa that emerged during the second half of the eighteenth century - a time of social and cultural change when sea bathing, sea views and informal homes away from cities grew in popularity.

"Belmont was owned for nearly 40 years by the pioneering businesswoman Eleanor Coade, 1732-1821 and has also been home to keen astronomer Dr Richard Bangay 1834-1933 and author John Fowles 1926-2005."

Belmont featured in Channel 4’s six-part documentary series Restoring Britain’s Landmarks last autumn.

Everyone will be welcome to look around the restored house and garden and visit the permanent exhibition in the adjacent former stables. Entry is free, no booking is required and leaflets on the history of the building will be available.

Belmont is one of 14 Landmarks opening for Heritage Open Days. Since May 1965, more than 200 buildings have been rescued by the historic buildings charity.

Belmont is available for holidays for up to eight people from less than £21 per person per night, with booking for holidays in January – June 2018 opening on Saturday September 24.