IF you're visiting Beningbrough Hall this weekend be sure to take a good look at the gardeners' tools. Gleaming, they are. Look like new. Why? Because every one has been painstakingly cleaned and restored, one of the many jobs completed as the house lay empty for most of last year.

Next you might buy a pot of home-made jam from the restaurant. Staff have cooked up £4,000-worth of the stuff from Beningbrough garden fruit.

And if you have young children, they will love to explore the playground. From today they can ride on the Ben Hall steam engine, lovingly carved out of a tree felled from lime avenue, the approach to the stately home's main gates.

Like many rural attractions, the National Trust-owned Beningbrough Hall was closed for most of last summer by foot and mouth disease. All of these tasks were undertaken to make the best of the lay off.

It was a frustrating time, confesses property manager Ray Barker.

"When the first outbreak occurred we were put on alert, and told we might have to think ahead, to make contingency plans.

"We still went ahead getting the property ready for the season, training seasonal staff and volunteers. It was only very close to opening day that it was finally decided we couldn't open."

Because no one knew when the Government would sound the all-clear, the Georgian hall was kept in a perpetual state of readiness.

"We nearly opened three times, and eventually opened on the fourth attempt at the end of September," says Mr Barker.

The full-time staff were either given maintenance tasks around the estate or redeployed to other Trust properties that were open, such as Treasurer's House in York.

Beningbrough's family of 200 volunteers were told to wait for the call. But Mr Barker's worst job was telling 40 casual staff the work wasn't there. Some were very upset.

"You could see it in their eyes. It meant the difference between being more comfortably off and being not very well off."

Beningbrough's regular visitors also suffered. Many Greater York residents, particularly in the north of the city, are family members of the National Trust and regard the estate as "their park".

"They were calling all summer asking, 'when are you open?' You could hear kids crying in the background, and we had to say, 'I'm awfully sorry, we're shut'," Mr Barker said. "If you had a dog, it was like being in prison, because all the footpaths were shut."

He was left to count the cost. Last year, Beningbrough Hall lost a third of a million pounds, and vital building works have been delayed as a result.

Normally 80,000 people visit "York's country house and garden"; last year this was down to little over 10,000.

And that was good going, considering it was only open for five weeks after the summer. When the doors did finally swing open again, he felt as though he'd won the Lottery.

Watching people stroll the grounds and explore the 18th century hall was very rewarding. In Mr Barker's colourful phrase: "It was like putting a breath of air through a set of bagpipes."

Today, everything in the hall is sparkling, from the forks in the garden to those in the restaurant. He could not wait to reopen the doors.

"You know that feeling when you're a child on Bonfire Night and the first sky rocket goes up and explodes into wonderful stars?

"That's how I'll feel when we open. It's the start of something new.

"Last year we lost spring and summer. It was like living in autumn and winter all year.

"This year we're going to get a spring again."

Beningbrough Hall and Gardens is eight miles north west of York. Opening arrangements: from today until June 30 and Sept 1 to Nov 3: daily except Thur & Fri (but open Good Fri); July & Aug: daily except Thur. Times: House: noon-5pm. Grounds: 11am-5.30pm. Tel: 01904 470666

Updated: 08:39 Saturday, March 23, 2002