VISCOUNT Downe, one of the region's biggest landowners and a champion of rural life, has died aged 67.

A godson of King George V, he was the 11th viscount and an independent member of North Yorkshire County Council for 17 years.

Viscount Downe was a long-serving member of the North York Moors National Park Committee.

His public involvements included Yorkshire Rural Community Council, Scarborough YMCA, Scarborough Amateur Operatic Society, Scarborough Cricket Club and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

He had also been chairman of the National Railway Museum, in York, and of the Yorkshire branch of the Country Landowners' Association.

He owned the Wykeham and Danby estates, which included farms, award-winning St Helen's Caravan Park and the Wykeham Lakes fishery.

Lord Downe had a keen interest in motor racing and was president of the Aston Martin Owners' Club. In 1983, he entered a car in the Le Mans 24-hour race.

Educated at Eton and Oxford, he later served in the Grenadier Guards and was an honorary colonel of the 150th (Northumbrian) regiment.

His funeral takes place tomorrow at All Saints Church, Wykeham, followed by interment at the ruins of the original Wykeham Abbey, which adjoins the family home, near Scarborough.

He leaves a widow, Diane, and two children, Sarah Dawnay and Richard Dawnay, who becomes the 12th viscount.