VOLUNTEERS in Weardale looked back more than a century for ideas for restoring a popular riverside walk.

Wolsingham Wayfarers have opened up the banks of Waskerley Beck, in the Demesne Mill, after looking at old photographs of the area. A £13,300 grant from the Banks Community Fund paid for the work.

The riverside site links with a circular family walk around the village and a Safe Route to School.

The banks of the beck had become overgrown, making it difficult for walkers and visitors to reach waterfalls and pools known as the Sills.

Now there are paths for wheelchairs and pushchairs and picnic tables, signs, information boards and lights.

Wolsingham contractor David Briggs completed the work in two months.

The Wolsingham Wayfarers group was formed in 1994 to protect the local environment and help educate people about conservation.

Chairwoman Joan Lowden said: "The scheme we've undertaken will make a big difference to the local area and the whole town."

Wolsingham Parish Council has recently taken over the Demesne Mill area from Durham County Council, and has improved car parking, as well as working with the Wayfarers on the riverside scheme.

Banks Developments recently won planning permission for homes and a business park on the Weardale Steel site, in Wolsingham.