A WOODLAND stairway built by German prisoners of war has been repaired by volunteers after more than 400 days of hard graft.

The popular but challenging climb to Hudswell, near Richmond, was falling into disrepair, but thanks to local groups and cadets the 319 steps have been strengthened with fresh concrete.

The work was organised by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, which oversaw the work over the last 12 months to manually haul buckets of fresh concrete up and down the well-worn steps which rise steeply from the valley floor near Lownthwaite Bridge on the banks of the River Swale, up to Hudswell.

The steps were originally built by German prisoners of war during the Second World War, and lead to an old lime kiln.

They are now part of a network of paths in the woods, and make for a direct route from the bottom of the valley to the George and Dragon pub in Hudswell at the top.

Michael Briggs, the authority’s area ranger for Swaledale, said: “The likely cost of bringing in a contractor to do the repairs would have run into tens of thousands of pounds.

“Going back to the drawing board, the ranger service reassessed the possibilities and a decision was made to do what we do best – tackle it head on with our own staff and volunteers and doing it one step at a time. As a result, it has cost around £5,000.

“Over the last 12 months we have chipped away and have restored each individual step, fixing a new wooden front and pouring a fresh concrete cap behind it.

“The steep terrain has been the overriding challenge and many hands have been the only way to overcome it.

“Help has come in the form of our own Dales Volunteers, including our regular Thursday Ragged Robin group, and various other smaller groups.

“However, when push came to shove – literally – we couldn’t have succeeded without the assistance of Junior Soldiers from Harrogate Army Foundation College.

“With up to 50 enthusiastic cadets at a time, they provided the chain gangs we required – and progress accelerated dramatically. At points we couldn’t mix the concrete fast enough. It’s been a true display of good, old-fashioned, hard graft.”

Ian Broadwith, the authority’s access ranger for Swaledale, added: “We would like to thank all who have been involved with this task especially Richard Laidler for organising the Dales volunteers, Brian Rawling for organising the Ragged Robin volunteers, the John Muir trust volunteers and special thanks to the junior soldiers for their help in repairing the most difficult section of steps – it seemed an impossible task until they arrived.”