A long-running project to completely restore and refurbish a former country mansion, which became council offices, is now virtually complete.

Only the finishing touches still need to be carried out on the Grade I listed Bedale Hall, North Yorkshire, which currently fulfils a wide variety of functions in the town.

The Georgian building faced the threat of demolition 50 years ago after a decade of occupation by first the Army, and then squatters.

From the early 1950s to the mid-1980s it was occupied by Hambleton District Council and in 1988 it was leased to a local trust, which has since spent about £300,000 on improvements. The final stage has been the £57,000 re-rendering of the walls and repairs to eroded window surrounds.

A bid for National Lottery funding three years ago failed. Instead, it was funded through grants from the county and district councils and the Yorventure environment project, as well as some of the trust's own resources.

Although it had been hoped the work would be completed in time for the start of the celebrations marking the 750th anniversary of the granting of Bedale's market charter, bad weather over the winter led to delays.

The trust's vice-chairman, Arthur Bruce, said: "Re-rendering of the external walls represents the last major piece of work.

"We had been planning to do it since the hall was taken over in 1988, but it was a question of priorities. The building might have looked bad externally, but it was still weatherproof."

He added: "We have tried to be very historically accurate, and had to take advice from English Heritage and local authority planning officers."

The hall houses the local museum and library and also acts as a community centre. It is licensed for marriages, and is financially self-supporting.

The next project for the trust will be the redevelopment of an old garage behind the hall, which was handed over by Hambleton last year along with responsibility for maintaining the museum collection.