THEY are amongst the jewels in the crown of the Yorkshire Dales: the stone barns and dry-stone walls which have featured in a million picture postcards sent to every corner of the world, writes John Sheard

But for the past few decades, their future has been in jeopardy: hard-hit farmers have neither the time nor the cash to maintain them. Hundreds of barns have been converted into homes, more face collapse, and many miles of wall have fallen down, often to be replaced by unsightly wire-and-post fencing.

Picture courtesy of The Yorkshire Dales Falconry & Conservation Centre send as dalescard »

Ten years ago, the Yorkshire Dales National Park grew alarmed that these precious landmarks might become ugly ruins or collapse completely, not only damaging the landscape but also posing a major threat to one of our best-loved birds, the barn owl, which for centuries has nested and bred in farm buildings. So the park launched a pilot scheme to give cash grants to landowners in Littondale, Upper Swaledale, and Arkengarthdale to restore barns and walls. Since 1989, some £2 million was given in grants to repair almost 400 traditional barns and 20 kilometres of dry stone walls. This pilot scheme has been judged a major success, so now it is to be extended to cover the whole of the national park with the help of an annual £50,000 grant from English Heritage funds designed to assist rural regeneration.

Paul Collins, the park's barns and walls officer comments: "The field barns and the dry stone walls of the Yorkshire Dales are synonymous with the national park and are widely recognised as being internationally important.

"With many of these barns no longer being used for farming, and currently falling into disrepair, now is the time to target the money and the expertise needed to ensure these historic landscape features are protected for future generations."

Says park chairman Steve Macaré: "We have over ten years of experience of restoring barns and walls in a number of areas. What we have now agreed is to roll out that expertise across the whole of the National Park in the coming years and target funding to the barns and walls that are in the greatest need, regardless of where they are.

"We will continue to work with other bodies to make sure that the funding package is in place to continue to make this vital investment in the barns and walls of the national park, the very fabric of the Yorkshire Dales that so many people come to see and enjoy."

Grants to fund up to 80% of costs will be made available to qualifying barns and walls. For barns the grants will fund structural repairs that return the building to a weatherproof condition. For details of the National Park Authority's Barns and Walls Scheme contact the walls and barns officer on (01969) 650456.