A MAJOR Test Valley landmark has seen a change of hands at the top.

Mottisfont Abbey has seen Louise Govier become the new interim general manager at the National Trust property after working as the visitor experience and communications manager.

Paul Cook, General Manager at Mottisfont and South West Hants Group for National Trust for three years, has now become project director of the Clandon Park restoration project near Guildford.

The early 18th-century grade I listed Palladian mansion was substantially damaged by fire in April last year, which left it “essentially a shell”.

Paul was asked to take over the repair and restoration of the house with Louise, who has worked at the estate for six years, taking over until a permanent replacement is found, which should be in the coming weeks

He said: "I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Mottisfont and working with such a fabulous team of staff and volunteers. It was a great privilege. 

"During my three years at Mottisfont, we built the new visitor facilities, refurbished the kitchen café, secured a grant for New Forest at Foxbury and reinterpreted the visitor offer through our Story Scape project. 

"So it’s fair to say that we achieved a fair bit, thanks to the superb teams working on those projects and I was delighted to see that the new visitor facilities had received the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) South Award 2016 for the design.

Clandon is a very different challenge. It is the largest restoration project ever undertaken by National Trust, but following the tragic fire in April 2015 we are keen to restore this Grade 1 Palladian Mansion so that it can be enjoyed by thousands of people once again for a very long time."

Louise said it makes “perfect sense” for Paul to take over the role.