FOR 13 years, an isolated white detached home on the edge of Darlington has been known as "the house where the murder was" or simply "the murder house". It's a lot easier to say than its real title of Aeolian House, Morton Palms, for a start.

Now the owners, Louise and Andy Bloomfield, are determined to lay to rest the spectre of the unsolved murder of housewife Ann Heron in August 1990.

The couple have built a block to kennel dogs and cats, offer training for problem pooches, recently launched a pet crematorium and certainly don't believe there's the curse of a knife-wielding killer on the premises.

In some ways, Louise, 39, and Andy, 41, have chosen an odd way to draw the veil over Ann Heron's gruesome murder - the mother-of-four had her throat cut in the living room having been disturbed by her killer while sunbathing.

The Channel 4 one-off documentary called Blood Under The Carpet, to be shown tomorrow, will feature Aeolian House as the most prominent of five murder scenes with new owners.

Louise admits: "There is always going to be gossip because a good-looking woman in a bikini was murdered here and because the house took so long to sell. Nobody wanted to buy it.

"When we looked around I felt such warmth that I knew that this was the house for us."

The couple had to pay the full £220,000 asking price to Ann's husband Peter because they had to apply for the pet crematorium rights as part of the sale.

They admit that feelings with Peter Heron ran a little high on the day they exchanged contracts because he turned furniture delivery vans away and stayed put until the last second before the 3pm deadline.

Andy explains: "I got angry because Louise was due to give birth to our daughter Eveie (who is now two) at any moment and we didn't even have a bed for her."

The neglected look of shuttered Aeolian House has changed and radiates life. The couple now have three children - baby Jack arrived 12 weeks ago - and a pony, dogs, geese, hens and ducks have changed the chilling reputation of the murder house.

Andy and Louise haven't seen the documentary and are hoping that their determination to "give the house a new beginning" will be reflected.

"I was heavily pregnant when the production company was filming and I was discussing having a birth at home. I think the film company was hoping I'd agree to give birth in the living room so it would get a new life after death storyline. There were complications with the birth so that didn't happen in the end," explains Louise.

"Ann's daughter had a child at around the same time and she rang to tell me how much her mother loved children and animals and would have loved what we were doing with the house," she adds.

She and Andy claim they were more haunted by ghost stories involving their previous historic home in Yarm's High Street than the long-running police investigation into the murder.

Former RAF policeman Andy is as imposingly built as his home and firmly believes that there is nothing after death but wife Louise admits to having a strong interest in the world of clairvoyants.

"Would I hold a seance to try and reach Ann's spirit? I'd love to, but I know Andy wouldn't agree. I see Ann's spirit as still being part of this house, but I see her as looking down in a friendly way," she says.

Certainly, the fortunes of anyone owning Aeolian House are looking up. Andy was stopped while working in the grounds by a family prepared to pay him £300,000 for the property.

"I've had a better price than that recently and if someone comes up with half-a-million, I might even be tempted. I think we've done away with the image of an old, derelict ghostly house and completely revamped the place," he explains.

The CCTV expert is aware that security will always remain an issue for his family and has installed six cameras on all approaches and confesses to owning a security dog "that even the RAF weren't interested in taking".

His actions could well have been inspired by an incident just over 12 months ago, when Louise and the children were alone, and a car thief fleeing police capture tried to get into the house.

Louise says: "I dialled 999 and he took off across the fields to Morton Park and lost his shoes in the process."

Andy adds: "He was picked up in Morrisons supermarket because he was the only person in the store with no shoes and muddy feet."

Fortunately, tranquillity quickly returned to a place which deals with family life from the cradle to the grave... in terms of departed pets only.

Andy says: "We've only just started this pet cremation service and we charge from £40 upwards depending on the size of the animal and what kind of casket is required. We did a parrot a few weeks ago and a business down south which gave us advice told me it has cremated a monkey.

"I think people become lonely and are very attached to their pets, which is why they appreciate this service."

As for Ann Heron's killer, Andy suspects only a confession will shed any more light on what happened in 1990.

"Then we'll have a documentary that will fascinate everyone," Louise adds.

* Blood Under The Carpet, Channel 4, tomorrow, 10pm