Some of the paintings at the heart of a legal dispute between the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and the Beaverbrook U.K. Foundation. The painting in the upper left is J.M.W. Turner's Fountain of Indolence, valued at $25 million. (CBC)

The Beaverbrook Foundation, created by New Brunswick-raised newspaper tycoon and British peer Max Aitken, has run into more financial trouble, forcing it to close its Cherkley Court estate near London to the public.

Renovations to the estate in Surrey, where the first Baron Beaverbrook lived until his death in 1964, have helped fuel a protracted legal battle between Aitken's family and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton.

A statement on the Cherkley Court website blames the recession and two summers of wet weather for turning the garden tours into a money-loser.

It's a blow to the Beaverbrook U.K. Foundation, which was counting on tour revenue to fund its charitable work, and it may be a sign of bigger financial problems.

The foundation is now in the sixth year of a legal battle with the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, also established by Aitken, over the ownership of 133 paintings.

Among the paintings that an arbitrator ruled should stay at the Fredericton gallery are J.M.W. Turner's Fountain of Indolence, valued at $25 million, and Lucian Freud's Hotel Bedroom, valued at $5 million.

The foundation wanted to take back the Turner and the Freud to help pay for renovation costs at Cherkley Court. The foundation has lost twice in arbitration and is gearing up for another round in court.

In September, an appeal panel, comprising retired Canadian appeal court justices Edward Bayda, Coulter Osborne and Thomas Braidwood, said that former Supreme Court of Canada justice Peter Cory, who ruled on the case in 2007, was reasonable and did not make any mistakes in his original judgment that awarded 85 of the disputed works of art to the Fredericton gallery.

Although the appeal panel was intended to be the final forum for the dispute, the Beaverbrook Foundation has filed another appeal with New Brunswick's Court of Queen's Bench. The hearing was scheduled for last week, but it has been postponed until 2010.

The foundation's legal bills have been estimated to be at least $10 million.

According to financial filings, the foundation has borrowed millions from a British bank to pay those bills and has put the Cherkley Court estate up as collateral. If the foundation can't repay the loan, it could lose the property.

Cherkley is also rented out for events such as weddings. A statement on the estate's website says events booked for 2010 will go ahead but a local British newspaper says Cherkley will accept no booking after that.