A once endangered slice of Ryedale's agricultural history is to be preserved forever under a major rural conservation project.

Around 100 years ago, Ryedale was well known for the variety and quality of fruit produced in its orchards.

But since then, the orchards have been allowed to decline. Some have become overgrown, while others have been lost forever due to grazing animals stripping bark from the trees.

Now though, horticultural consultant Barry Potter has been brought in to try to stop the decline and make the orchards flourish again.

Working under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, a scheme committed to maintaining the history of rural areas, Barry has been visiting Ryedale regularly in recent weeks.

He said he has found some "hugely interesting" orchards, which, with a carefully tailored programme of work, can be restored.

He said: "I will visit an orchard, assess the state it is in and then plan a programme of work accordingly. A lot of them in the Ryedale area have become a bit overgrown after years of neglect, and have a bit of a 'crabby' look about them.

"The quality of the fruit is usually still quite good though, and the problems can be countered with a programme of careful pruning," Barry added.

One of the orchards Barry will be working on is just outside Malton, and was used to provide fruit for sailors at Whitby in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

He added: "The idea was to stop them getting scurvy, and I believe it worked quite well. What you have got to remember is that fruit, and particularly apples, were a hugely important part of society then, particularly around 100 years ago.

"Back then, the English were connoisseurs of apples, in a way comparable to the French being connoisseurs of wine.

"It was a serious business, which is one of the reasons it is so important that these orchards are maintained - they really are a major part of our history."