PLANNING permission has been given for a long-delayed £500,000 restoration of The Ruin, a folly and former banqueting house on the edge of Hackfall Woods, at Grew-elthorpe, near Ripon.

The building is owned by the Landmark Trust. It was built in 1760 by William Aislabie, who inherited the land with Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal from his father John, who created the water gardens at Studley Royal estate next to the abbey.

A restoration scheme had to be mounted to prevent the building from slipping down a steep embankment into the woodland, which is managed by the Woodland Trust.