HE has followed in the ancient footsteps of Alexander the Great and tracked back hundreds of years for his books on Domesday and the Dark Ages, but now historian Michael Wood is bringing the recent past alive to campaign for a unique wartime treasure.

The award-winning writer and presenter is backing 60-year-old Harperley Camp, near Crook, County Durham, in its £3m quest to win the BBC2 series, Restoration.

Owners Lisa and James McLeod are racing against time to restore the former prisoner of war huts while people are still alive who remember the camp.

Viewers of Restoration - described by its makers as a Pop Idol for old buildings - vote for one of the projects they would like to see restored from ruin

The ten regional winners go forward to a live final on September 14.

The McLeods are campaigning for votes by handing out leaflets and putting up roadside signs.

They are also counting on Mr Wood to win over the rest of the nation when the episode featuring Harperley is broadcast on September 2.

He will tell viewers: "The story of Harperley shows you how former enemies can become friends. It's a very powerful human story.

"Many of the Germans who were prisoners there married local girls and had children.

"When you walk inside, the past comes alive in the most magical way."

English Heritage has scheduled the camp as an ancient monument and has pledged to pay half the cost of stabilising the buildings, leaving the McLeods with a multi-million pound target to realise their dream of opening a prisoner of war museum.

They have set up the museum project as a charitable trust to be run as a community enterprise separate from other developments planned on the site.

Rudy Lux, of Widdrington, Northumberland, one of the dozens of former Italian and German prisoners they have traced in the North-East and Europe, is to be a trustee.

Mrs McLeod said: "Winning Restoration would be priceless. It would mean we could get under way now while there are still people alive who remember the camp and its people.

"Doing it ourselves could take 15 to 20 years, and all that would be lost."

In the North-East heat, reporter Kate Adie speaks for 14th Century Ravensworth Castle, near Gateshead, while gardener Rachel de Thame is the advocate for the Glass-house at Wentworth Castle, near Barnsley.

* Viewers can vote for their favourite Restoration project by calling 0901 0777777. At least 17.9p from every 30p call will go into the prize fund.

The Heritage Lottery Fund is pledging £3m to the winning project.

There is also a donation line on 0871 2005050.