THE restoration of a ramshackle 200-year-old field barn has allowed a Dales farmer to re-start traditional haymaking.

Richard Greenwood, who farms near the remote hamlet of Foxup at the head of Littondale in the Yorkshire Dales, successfully applied to have the tumbledown building restored with funding under Defra's Environmentally Sensitive Areas scheme.

The work was carried out by local builders trained in traditional skills, including the use of a natural, lime-based putty, under the supervision of a specialist from the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Unstable and dilapidated walls were rebuilt to match the original style and construction, and the whole building has been re-roofed.

The project has also involved re-building about 1km of drystone walling nearby.

Martin O'Hanlon, Defra senior adviser for the Pennine Dales ESA, said the availability of a weatherproof barn for hay storage in such a remote area made traditional hay production possible.

"This is good news for the environment, safeguarding the wildflower interest of the surrounding meadowland," he said. "By restoring the traditional land-use patterns of the nineteenth century, this historic landscape is being preserved for future generations to enjoy."

Mark Stephenson, building conservation officer with the Dales park authority, said lime-based putty was a traditional material and would have been used when the barn was first built.

"Apart from historical authenticity, we recommended the use of lime putty as it is a natural product, is more suited to traditional structures, and is technically superior to modern alternatives that can actually cause physical harm," he said.

The area around Foxup represents the Dales landscape in microcosm. Each farm would have kept a small number of cattle for milk, dairy products and meat. Fields were enclosed by drystone walls, creating meadows rich in wild flowers to produce winter feed for cattle. Each meadow or group of meadows would have had a barn, to store hay in the loft and house cattle in the winter.

In the latter part of the twentieth century these systems broke down as many farms amalgamated. Traditional buildings and drystone walls were expensive to maintain, became redundant and fell into disrepair, and the move away from traditional hay production lead to a decline in the range and abundance of wildflowers.

Defra and the Dales park authority have both targeted the area for attention under their environmental schemes and have provided grants for the restoration of landscape features. The land is managed under the Defra ESA scheme.