NATIONAL Lottery officials are being asked to help fund a bid to restore a nationally important historic landscape in Sedgefield.

Durham County Council has submitted a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for nearly £5m to help restore Hardwick Park to its 18th Century splendour.

The park has a Grade II* English Heritage listing.

At the time of its creation, in the 1750s, by acclaimed architect James Paine, it was at the forefront of a revolutionary taste in design.

If the bid is successful, it will allow £4.96m of restoration work to go ahead.

The five main areas of work targeted by the bid are:

l Restoration of the 17-acre main lake which disappeared about 150 years ago.

l Restoration of the Temple of Minerva, one of the park's principal buildings.

l Restoration of the Gothic seat in its romantic setting of a grove of yews.

l Restoration of the partially restored tower of the Gothic ruin to open up views across the park.

l Restoration of the circuit walk and grand terrace.

Durham county councillor Ken Manton said: "The whole scheme aims to restore Hardwick's important 18th Century landscape, with the long- term objective of raising the quality of the park to such an extent that it will become eligible for Grade I listing.

"During the summer, we bought, with the support of the HLF, a further 150 acres to enable the restoration of the main features of the original park.

"In this first phase of work we also hope to recreate the ha-has, or ditches, so that the field around the temple can be managed by grazing, and to complete a substantial amount of shrub planting to the woodland edges."

He said: "New work included in the bid will involve sensitively re-siting and enlarging the car park, the first phase of a visitor centre and a full programme of interpretative work so that visitors can find out not only what was here in the past, but also what is going to be there."

A decision on the bid is expected from the Heritage Lottery Fund in early summer.