YOU would normally associate a cave as a hollow place in the ground, but an ex-businessman has transformed an 800-year-old abandoned cavern in Wyre Forest into a luxury retreat.

Angelo Mastropietro, 38, spent eight months almost single-handedly turning the cave into “Britain’s first luxury cave house retreat of the modern world”, complete with a unique ‘cave oasis’ walk-in shower, under floor heating, a fully-fitted kitchen and even wi-fi.

He visited the site as a young boy and was motivated to transform the dwelling when he saw it come on the market in 2010. Angelo bought the 2.5 acre site for £62,000 and submitted a planning application in 2014 to turn the cave into a one bedroom retreat.

Featured on the popular Channel 4 programme, Grand Designs, Mr Mastropietro set about carving, cutting and drilling into the Triassic sandstone hillside at Low Habberley – including excavating 70 tonnes of stone by hand – to turn his plans into reality.

Mr Mastropietro, who ran a recruitment company in Australia before being diagnosed with MS, needed a project to concentrate on while he took a career break.

He said: “I was living in Australia when I was diagnosed with MS. I carried on working but the stress was becoming detrimental to my health.

“It forced me to rethink my plans for the future and I was looking for a project in order to have a career break. On an extended trip back I found the rock house up for sale and the auction was taking place on my birthday.

“After visiting I fell in love with the place and wanted to turn it into a romantic retreat and have it featured on Grand Designs.

“My family comes from Italy where there is a tradition of cave dwellings and ironically our surname Mastropietro translates into ‘Master of the stone’. I was not particularly daunted by the idea of carving a home out of rock – I felt emotionally attached to the project from the start.

“The whole process, without a shadow of a doubt, has been incredibly grilling – physically and mentally challenging.

“I am able-bodied and it was more the risks I was taking that were in the back of my mind - I have already been paralysed once in my life.

“It was great fun to film with Grand Designs. I fully enjoyed those days when they were filming – they are an inspiring bunch of people.

“It motivated me and I feel quite privileged to have that opportunity. It is Britain’s first luxury cave house retreat of the modern world.”

Emma Anning, Wyre Forest District Council’s senior development control officer, said: “It is always good to work on something that isn’t quite ‘the norm’ and this certainly wasn’t that.

“This was my first cave house so assessing the merits of the proposal against the development plan was a new challenge.”

Angelo now plans to rent out the Rockhouse Retreat as a holiday home and it is available to book online at therockhouseretreat.co.uk.

He added: “The work was a labour of love and I was determined to transform this forgotten cave into something special. It is estimated the cave is more than 250 million years old and I think we can safely say it will outlive many of the new homes being built today.

“I plan to rent it out as a romantic retreat for the time being, and maybe later in life I may use it as a home.

“It would be nice to retire here and kick-back and relax in the surroundings.”

Councillor John Campion, cabinet member for planning and economic regeneration, said: “This is an unusual and innovative example of redevelopment and it is inspiring to see how the vision of an individual can be bought to life supported by the professional expertise of council officers as well as partner services.

“We congratulate Angelo on his achievement and wish him the best of luck with future development projects.”