HUNDREDS of people visited Winkies Castle over the Easter weekend to see what the future holds for the property.

The former Marske High Street cottage was the home of cobbler Jack Anderson, who bequeathed it to Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council in the hope it could be turned into a community museum.

More than 600 people visited the cottage over three days of the Easter holiday weekend to see the tidy-up work that has already been carried out.

About 2,000 items, including rare photographs, a ship's ledger, a sea mine and old agricultural tools, have been catalogued, adding up to over 850 hours of volunteer time in the past three months.

The Friends of Winkies Castle was created from interest within the community and has 112 members.

Membership secretary Gordon Fisher said: "We would have been delighted to have seen 200 people over the weekend, but we got that on the first day.

"We must have had over 600 people through the front door, they were coming in all the time."

The council's museums curator Alan Pearce, said: "The next big step is to complete our application to the Heritage Lottery Fund with a bid for around £80,000 and we'd hope to be able to send that off in three or four weeks."

Anyone wanting to become a Friend of Winkies Castle, can contact Mr Fisher for membership details on (01642) 489489.