TRUSTEES charged with overseeing a unique collection of trees beside one of Britain's best known stately homes are celebrating securing funding to help launch a £500,000 scheme to preserve its future.

The Yorkshire Arboretum, a 120-acre landscape featuring more than 6,000 trees alongside Castle Howard, has been awarded interim funding of £44,400 by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to work up its If Trees Could Talk project for a full bid in a year’s time.

The arboretum is run by the Castle Howard Arboretum Trust, an independent charity established in 1997 as a partnership between the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Castle Howard to maintain and protect the collection, which is regarded by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as a back-up collection for Kew Gardens.

The area of the Castle Howard estate was rebranded as the Yorkshire Arboretum in 2013 as part of a plan to make it recognised as an independent body, to turn its fortunes around.

Trustees hope to build an "inspiring, engaging and accessible experience", to attract more visitors to generate the income needed to look after the arboretum, set in the Howardian Hills, in the future.

The project aims to tell the story of trees at the arboretum, which was laid out by landscape architect James Russell from 1979 and features trees from countries such as Chile, Kenya and Mexico, its historic site and rich natural biodiversity, including wild orchids, rare bees and birds such as barn owls, to a wide audience.

A network of hard paths is planned, alongside interpretation materials, areas for learning and interacting with trees and the environment, a new learning and activity centre for an expanding education programme and a new propagation area.

Trustees said the HLF announcement had come as "extremely welcome news", having spent two years developing the bid.

They said while their bid remained at a preliminary stage in the HLF process, the decision marked overcoming a significant hurdle.

John Grimshaw, director of the Yorkshire Arboretum, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to receive this endorsement and support from the HLF.

"It gives us an opportunity to work towards the project we dream of, making this lovely place more accessible and more interesting to very many more people, promoting our values of inspiration, education and conservation.”