“SHARON – who’s the geezer in the funny hat?”

Music legend Ozzy Osbourne – or at least a close likeness – came face-to-face with Aston Hall’s first owner, Sir Thomas Holte, during a weekend of celebrations to mark the stately home’s reopening.

Lookalike Izzy Ozzy transformed himself into the Aston-born Prince of Darkness as the 17th century estate welcomed back visitors over the weekend after a multi-million pound restoration project.

Other historic figures and celebrities whose images were recreated for the occasion included Charles I, who stayed in the Jacobean mansion in 1642, Queen Victoria, Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle and author Washington Irving.

Curator-manager, Gurminder Kenth, said thousands of visitors had been enticed to the venue.

“We were really busy with a couple of thousand people visitors on both Saturday and yesterday.

“Both the cafe and the shop were packed and there was a lot of interest in a new permanent exhibition detailing the history of the Aston area.”

Ms Kenth also confirmed the popular Christmas event, Aston Hall by Candelight, which has not been staged for three years, would be returning with the venue’s reopening.

Hailed as one of the country’s finest surviving examples of Jacobean architecture, the Grade I-listed building has been closed to the public for almost three years while skilled craftsmen painstakingly restored its unique features, many of which date back to the time of the Civil War.

The hall’s stables have been redeveloped to provide a new gallery, tea room, reception and community space, and a sports pavilion has been built in the south of Aston Park.

During the work a host of architectural features were revealed, including an original door dating back to the 1600s. The door, which still had its original hinges, had been sealed behind some wooden panelling for hundreds of years. Other doorways, fireplaces and unknown decorative friezes were also uncovered, which were wherever possible preserved and left on display.