A tourist attraction in North Yorkshire is hoping to get approval for a £500,000 revamp in an effort to pull in more visitors.

Ryedale Folk Museum, at Hutton-le-Hole, near Pickering, is seeking permission to increase its space.

Several 17th Century buildings at the museum, set up to illustrate the history of life in the dale, would be improved and storage buildings constructed.

Museum curator Martin Watts said: "We want to build a workshop and a storage building and provide an extension to the existing visitors' centre.

"The workshop will provide much-needed space for our volunteers. We have about 120 people on our books at the moment, but we can only have a few in at a time."

An application for planning permission has been submitted to the North York Moors National Park Authority and includes a proposal to restore the museum's main building, Manor House, to the way it looked when first built, between 1630 and 1690.

Part of the main entrance building would be converted into exhibition space to enable more artefacts to be put on display.

"We have not started raising any money for the project yet because we first need to find out if we are allowed to do it," said Mr Watts.