A TOP astrologer is selling his £1 million mansion near York in a bid to revive a haunted museum in the city.

Jonathan Cainer, who writes horoscopes for a national newspaper, said his star signs were telling him the time was right for a new venture.

Mr Cainer, 49, said he planned to stay in the York area, but would be selling his seven-bedroom property in Oulston, near Easingwold, which goes on the market tomorrow.

He said: "I want to have another bash at my museum and that is part of the reason I'm selling The Manor House.

"I'm flogging it to get enough money to make the museum a success. I can't afford to have both."

Mr Cainer set up the Psychic Museum, in Stonegate, York, in 2003 - but was forced to close it last year, due to dwindling numbers.

He said: "I'm reopening it under a new name. We're going to be open by Hallowe'en and it's going to be called Haunted.

"The building is riddled with ghosts. You don't have to be a ghostbuster to sense the presence in that place - there are at least seven different powers in there.

"Visitors will be given a headset for a tour of the house and will listen to a dramatised account of the house's history, the ghostly encounters and what we think is causing them."

The 1482 building will also be used by a company called Fright Nights, which has been running ghost-themed evenings there since the Psychic Museum closed down.

But Mr Cainer - a Sagittarian - said the house he was selling near Easingwold was completely ghost-free.

He said: "It has been my family home for 17 years so I have mixed feelings about going. It's where I brought up my six children.

"It is an enormous house, but it has all the character and charm of a country cottage, with low ceilings and beams.

"I have redecorated it and anything to do with my eccentric tenure has been removed. You couldn't tell that a hippy had been living there."

He said: "An astrologist should never try to predict their own future, but generally speaking I think my horoscope is positive for making a settlement and setting up a new venture."

The property is on the market with Savills for offers in excess of £1.1 million and the first open viewing will be tomorrow from 11am to noon.