Hollywood movie star Ralph Fiennes will be among the first to visit an historic stately home which re-opens to the public this weekend after being closed for 18 months.

Southside House, on the edge of Wimbledon Common, will re-open with guided tours on Easter Saturday after nearly a year of repairs following a serious fire in November 2010.

The house’s curator, Richard Surman, also revealed Ralph Fiennes would be working at the house in June.

He will be part of a film crew for his new movie, Invisible Woman.

Fiennes, as the film’s director and lead actor, tell the story of Charles Dickens and his mistress.

Mr Surman said: “They will be turning a small part of the house into the Camden Town house that Dickens and his mistresses would frequent.

“It is very exciting and we can’t wait for visitors to come through our doors again this weekend.

“We are proud to be the only site of historic interest in Merton that is open to the public.”

Southside House was also the home of Major Malcolm Munthe, a British spy during the war, whose hidden weapons prompted a bomb scare in May 2011 when they were found in a hidden room.

Excavations following a fire at the house in November uncovered the secret basement, accessed by moving the hearthstone in a dining room fireplace to reveal wooden steps.

Just last week, Wimbledon Common’s connection to the war was underlined again when a hand grenade was found by treasure hunters. Historians explained the common was used as a training base by the armed forces.

Mr Surman added the house provides an enchantingly eccentric backdrop to the lives and loves of generations of the Pennington Mellor Munthe families.

He added: “The house is maintained in traditional style without intrusive refurbishment and crowded with family possessions of centuries.”

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