A RUNDOWN 18th Century walled garden has been transformed into a modern attraction in North Yorkshire.

Sir Charles and Lady Legard, owners of Scampston Hall, near Malton, have used the expertise of Dutch designer Piet Oudolf, to create a 21st Century garden.

The work comes two centuries after the legendary Capability Brown designed the gardens and lake at the hall, the Legard family home since 1690.

The four-and-a-half-acre walled garden is divided into a series of spaces, each with a character of its own, said Sir Charles.

"When I inherited Scampston in 1994, the house had seen better days and the garden was almost derelict. The house was the first to be tackled and the work took five years to complete," he said.

But the efforts paid dividends when the restoration was rewarded with an award from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors for building conservation, and selected by Country Life as their House of the Year in 2000.

Six years ago the Legards began restoring the hall's extensive grounds and gardens.

They brought in Mr Oudulf, who has designed parks and gardens throughout Europe, including two at the Royal Horticultural Society headquarters at Wisley, another at Jesus College, Cambridge, and he has recently finished the design for a courtyard at Hampton Court Palace.

Mr Oudolf designed the Millennium Garden in Chicago and has just begun a large project at Trentham Park in Staffordshire.

He has now been commissioned to work on The Gardens of Remembrance in Manhattan, New York, to commemorate the victims of the September 11 terrorist attack.

The walled garden is open from Wednesday to Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays from 1am to 5pm. Entry is £4, concessions £3.50, children aged 12to 16 £3 and under-11s free.