AMBITIOUS plans have been put forward for a major repair project at a well-loved and important heritage site.

A £100,000 scheme has been earmarked for Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal estate near Ripon.

Work will concentrate on the eighteenth-century water garden which features a series of landscaped cascades and waterfalls.

The National Trust, which owns the estate, says urgent repairs need to be made to the Drum Waterfall, which is leaking, as well as the upper canal walls.

The protective waterbed 'skirts' where the water cascades into the canal also need repairing.

The estate, which was taken over by the National Trust in 1983, is one of North Yorkshire's most popular tourist spots, attracting huge crowds of visitors every year along with thousands of others who attend the open air concerts and events staged there.

Its international importance has been recognised by the United Nations, which has officially designated it as a World Heritage Site.

Half of the project's cost will be funded by landfill tax, but the remainder will have to be raised by the estate itself.

Head gardener Michael Ridsdale said: "This will be the first time repairs have been done to the waterfalls since the eighteenth-century. As we don't have all the money, the work will have to be done in phases. It's a never-ending job."

The famous estate was once owned by the Viner family who sold it in 1966. Once covering 18,000 acres, it was reduced in size under the management of the West Riding County Council before being taken over by North Yorkshire on local government reorganisation in 1974.

"When we took it over we had to raise £4m," said Mr Ridsdale.

"We raised £1.2m ourselves. What we need is someone to leave us a legacy which could go towards an endowment. Unfortunately that simply doesn't happen very often these days."