A LOTTERY-funded wartime exhibition has been unveiled at a North Yorkshire country house in time for Easter.

Kiplin Hall, between Scorton and Northallerton, opened Duty Calls on Good Friday.

It looks at the involvement of Kiplin, its owners and the local community during wartime.

The hall received a grant of £42,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), which has enabled staff and volunteers to undertake the two-year project, which includes archival research, the exhibition and much needed conservation of the Second World War kitchen and bathroom - relics of the RAF occupation of the hall from December 1942 to December 1944.

The 400-year old hall has links to the 17th century Civil War through to the 1939-1945 Second World War, when the house was requisitioned by the RAF and used as a maintenance unit, storing and supplying bombs and ammunition to the local airfields – Croft, Middleton-St-George, Catterick and Scorton.

The period is brought to life through the recorded memories of local people who are witnesses to times spent in the shadow of the airfields during the War.

Visitors will hear these in the Second World War Kitchen, part of one of the flats created for RAF officers in the Hall which still survives today.

Many personal stories from 300 years of conflict are told through the Duty Calls exhibition.

The house and exhibition are open Sunday to Wednesday, from Easter Sunday until October 30.

The gardens and tea room are open from 10am to 5pm and the Hall from 2pm until 5pm.

Fiona Spiers, Head of HLF Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “The stories of war penetrate through all parts of society and country houses and their estates can be seen as a microcosm of what was happening within the country as a whole.

“The Duty Calls exhibition will open up a new perspective of Kiplin Hall, providing an opportunity for visitors to connect with the hall on a different and often quite emotive level.”

For more information visit www.kiplinhall.co.uk, email info@kiplinhall.co.uk or telephone 01748-818178.