A RYEDALE open garden has been awarded more than £500,000 of Lottery money, bringing in almost £1m of heritage funding to the district in the same week.

Staff at Helmsley Walled Garden have announced that their £505,000 bid to restore a range of Victorian vineries, fruit and orchard houses, and derelict outbuildings has been accepted.

Neil Booth, one of the trustees of the garden, said: "We were all absolutely thrilled when we found out, everyone is very excited.

"It is a tremendous boost."

The greenhouses to be renovated were built for the 1st Earl Feversham in the late 1800s, and were "state of the art" at the time of their construction.

Head gardener Paul Radcliffe said restoring them would stop the serious deterioration and complete the return of the garden's principal buildings to their former Victorian glory.

The lottery cash is partly match-funded by grants of £130,000 grant from WREN (Waste Recycling Environmental) and Ryedale District Council, which donated money in 2001 for the complete restoration of the Victorian Orchid House.

Mr Radcliffe said: "Visitors to the garden over the last six years have seen the gradual renovation of the gardens and the Orchid House, raising both from a state of total dereliction."

Renovation work is expected to start in summer 2003, and will take 18 months to complete.

Yesterday the Ryedale Folk Museum, at Hutton-le-Hole, revealed its bid for more than £418,000 of heritage lottery funding had been successful.

They will spend the money restoring an Elizabethan manor house on the site and building a new gallery space, stores, educational rooms and a workshop.

Updated: 11:31 Thursday, December 12, 2002