A LOYAL employee has celebrated 50 years of working on the grounds of a stately home.

Ron Smith, 65, was born at North Lees, just outside Ripon, and now lives at nearby Marton-le-Moor.

He started his working life at the age of 14 when he was employed on a farm at the Newby Hall estate, near Ripon, in 1954.

Since then, he has worked all over the estate in various departments and in the 1970s he helped to install the children's adventure playground by digging the ponds.

He said: "There are not many people who have worked in one place for 50 years. It has had its ups and downs."

At a formal ceremony last week, he was presented with an engraved carriage clock by the Compton family, who own the hall and estate.

"It was a bit of a surprise," he said. "I was kept in the dark about it."

Mr Smith retired from full-time work in April, but still works three days a week as a gardener for Robin Compton and his wife, Jane, at the manor house in the hall grounds.