Work has finally started on restoring York's Rowntree Park to its former glory.

The £1.7 million project, backed by money from the National Lottery, will take the park back to the splendour of its pre-war heyday.

It will mean the return of the pergola walk, a waterfall cascade, lily pond and canal. And a refurbished caf will sell refreshments to park-goers during the summer months, with new toilet facilities, including a baby change room and facilities for the disabled.

The 23-acre Rowntree Park was developed after the First World War by Joseph Rowntree in remembrance of factory employees killed in the conflict.

Generations of children spent hours in the park, but it went into steady decline over the years.

The Heritage Lottery Fund announced in May 1998 that it was giving £1.3 million towards ambitious City of York Council plans to restore and refurbish the riverside park.

Now the first stage of the scheme has started with work to repair the bed of the lake and improve drainage across the park, and also to repair the Park Lodge and Dovecote.

The lodge works include the extension of the veranda, together with a new flat-level entrance path to the rear of the building.

The toilet block is being demolished and rebuilt with extra facilities. A new community room is being built and the caf is being refurbished, with the contract awarded to Bolam Construction of Dunnington. The lake islands are being rebuilt and the pumping station used to fill and empty the lake is being improved.

One metre of silt will be removed from Clementhorpe Beck to help water flow, with the work carried out by Dobsons Civil Construction of Malton.

York leisure spokesman David Meigh said future works, due to take place between spring 2001 and spring 2002, will also include improvements to the play areas and entertainment space, a new gate into the park from Butcher Terrace, new trees and the re-laying of footpaths, along with the re-introduction of the lost water features.

The park scheme has started just as another lottery-funded project, the construction of the nearby Millennium Bridge and refurbishment of riverside paths, is nearing completion.