AN old building in Waberthwaite, known as The Laundry, has been put to good use once again.

A heritage group has helped to restore the building, which sits next to a church, back to public use for people to study, relax or take advantage of the building's history.

The building itself has actually never been used as a laundry by St John's Church.

It stands in the new churchyard where there was once a large Victorian mansion, which itself was on the site of a much older building.

It was used by the big house for the household laundry, presumably taken care of by servants.

There are people living locally who remember the set pot in the corner and the old water pump still on the wall, until it was removed to be renovated. 

The other half of the building still has the old bread oven - looking very much like a modern pizza oven and working in the same way.

When the church was given the building, it was used for storage and occasional fundraising events, but the difficulty of keeping an ancient church going and looking after this quirky relic was too much, and it fell into some disrepair. 

A spokesperson said: "Three years ago a heritage group was formed to look at how the building could be used and what repairs were needed.

"A plan was put together, grant money was applied for and the building is now almost ready to take up its new use as a venue for small groups to meet in to study, relax and take advantage of the interesting history and ecology the site has to offer.

"After all the hard work we were very pleased to welcome Sam Scott, High Sheriff, and Alex Scott, Lord Lieutenant of Cumbria.

"We have been supported through a grant from Cumbria Foundation and it's this link that led to the visit.

"The High Sheriff was impressed by both the transformation and the potential uses. As she says on her Facebook page: 'Well worth a visit and beautiful views'."