Cockington Country Park gets £90k to help preserve the attraction
Almost £90,000 has been secured to help preserve a country park in Devon.
The money is the first stage of a £1.45m project to maintain and repair Cockington Country Park, in Torquay.
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has given a grant of £47,800 which has been matched by a grant of £42,573 from Torbay Council.
It will be spent on architects, structural engineers, consultants and liaising with communities about how they use the park.
In 2014, the Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust, which is behind the project, plans to submit an application to the HLF for a further £558,000.
If successful, the trust plans to repair and convert the gamekeeper's cottage to create accommodation for five trainees who will help maintain the park, repair the lakes and restore the landscape around them.
It also plans to repair and refurbish a 19th Century outhouse and covert it into a visitor centre.
The trust plans to raise the remaining funds from other grants and by fundraising.
A spokesman from the trust said the project's overall aim was to repair and make use of key buildings in the village and improve the experience for visitors.
Julian Carnell, from the trust, said the park was "one of the English Riviera's crown jewels" and it was a "once in a generation opportunity for Cockington".
The park includes a 17th Century manor house and 460 acres of parkland, woodland and farmland.
The Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust aims to protect land, buildings and natural resources in the area.