OWNERS of period houses can learn how to conserve and improve their properties at a 1,000-year-old North Yorkshire manor house.

The Institute of Specialist Surveyors and Engineers (ISSE) is running five residential courses lasting two or three days each at Seaton Hall, Staithes.

As well as talks from leading surveyors, craftsmen and building conservation experts, the courses will include sightseeing visits to historic buildings in Whitby and the North Yorkshire Moors. The first courses will concentrate on roofs and guttering.