The Vivat Trust, which let out properties including The Temple at Badger Dingle, between Bridgnorth and Albrighton, has appointed insolvency practitioners Begbies Traynor.

Customers, who can pay up to £2,000 per week to stay in historic properties managed by the Hereford-based charity, have now had their holidays cancelled.

They will now have to wait to hear from liquidators for the trust – which rescued neglected and dilapidated listed buildings – to find whether they will get their money back.

Chairman of Badger Parish Council Terry Lipscombe said he was very disappointed to hear the news.

“I understand The Temple had been booked in for a wedding, and it must be extremely disappointing for them,” he said.

A statement on the charity’s website said Mary Currie-Smith and Louise Baxter of Begbies Traynor had been instructed to place both The Vivat Trust Ltd and its sister company Vivat Management Services Ltd in liquidation on August 6.

It said a number of customers had either paid for their holidays in full, or had left up-front deposits.

“Once appointed, the liquidators will investigate whether or not the deposits were held in a trust account and, if appropriate, look into the possibility of returning monies paid,” the statement added.

The Vivat Trust is a registered charity, and was established in 1981 in order to rescue derelict historic buildings and sensitively restore them into short stay self-catering holiday homes.

The trust’s website said: “This approach to conserving the nation’s heritage allows people to experience a living piece of history, while the lettings income helps fund future maintenance.”

Mr Lipscombe, who lives next to The Temple at Badger Dingle, said he believed the building had been leased to the trust by a separate landowner, and assumed it would revert to him.

“It’s obviously extremely disappointing.

“The Vivat Trust has always been an organisation which has restored interesting old heritage buildings to the highest standards,” he said.

“It seems very strange that an organisation like that would go straight into liquidation if it experienced cash-flow problems, without at least going into administration first.

“We have stayed in Vivat Trust places over the years, and have always found them to be a very efficient organisation.”

Matthew Beckett, an architectural historian of UK country houses, said the collapse of the trust was “a real loss as an alternative model of heritage preservation”.