Plans to restore Corfe Castle were announced today.

The £700,000 repair work will help conserve the thousand-year-old monument for future generations.

A two-year conservation programme by The National Trust and English Heritage will re-open the top third of the castle, including the keep, inner ward and gloriette section, to more than 100,000 visitors each year.

The top part of the castle was closed after frost damage and crumbling stonework prompted health and safety fears in April, this year.

Pippa Russell, visitor services and enterprise manager at the castle, said: "The ravages of time have begun to catch up with the large pieces of stonework around the keep."