A THREE year project to restore a Sutton landmark is due to be completed this weekend.

The restoration work on Lund's Tower, also known as the Salt Pot and Ethel's Tower, has cost almost £22,000 and countless hours of time put in by volunteers from the village's Conservation Group.

Setbacks such as funding, foot and mouth and poor weather, have failed to dampen the group's determination.

So far they have restored and re-pointed the tower, put in steps and a new gate leading up to the site, removed quarry mounds to open up the view, improved the access for disabled visitors and introduced restrictions to prevent cars being driven up to the top.

All that remains now is to increase the car parking provision at the site, and the group is awaiting a decision from North Yorkshire County Council before that work can be done.

The grade two listed tower, built in the 1860s by James Lund, of Malsis, to mark the birth of his daughter, surveys the beautiful valleys and hillside of South Craven with views of Malham Cove on a good day.

It is popular with ramblers, and school parties and the cliff face between Sutton and Cowling Pinnacle is used as a practice site by mountaineers.

Just off the Pennine Way, the Salt and Pepper pots (Cowling Pinnacle) are one of the most important landmarks in the South Craven area.

"Here you can get the beauty of the Dales on your doorstep," said Conservation Group member Tim Cole.

The work was first planned back in 1999 by Sutton Parish Council and taken on by the village's Conservation Group, chaired by Tom Wilkinson.

Over the three years they have received backing from various agencies, including the British Mountaineering Club, Agenda 21, the parish council, North Yorkshire County Council's Millennium Fund, Sutton Village Committee and Yorkshire Forward.

Mr Cole told the Herald: "The first stage was to put the steps in and to be truthful, that is all we thought we would achieve.

"Then we received a phone call from North Yorkshire County Council saying they wanted to do something about the road, and it spiralled from there.

"We also got money from Yorkshire Forward related to the foot and mouth crisis, who said they were interested in funding this project."

There have been some problems: the removal of the landscaped quarry mounds to open up the view has sparked some criticism, and concerns have been raised about the car park at the parish council meeting.

Mr Wilkinson said: "This was quarry waste years and years ago, and is an artificial landscape. We wanted to remove the mounds and put them back to the quarry face to strengthen it. If we moved the rocks we could create picnic areas at the bottom."

The project has sparked interest from people connected with the Lunds and there has been a good response to an appeal in the Herald for information about the tower's origins.

Many local people have offered their support, both financially and through volunteer work, and the committee would like to thank everyone who has helped.

The restoration work on the tower was completed by Jed and Gerald Molloy of Sutton, who had to brave the elements and the heights on the remote hillside.

An official opening is planned for September.