A new woodland in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales has been planted in memory of a woman who tragically drowned in Robin Hood's Bay, near Whitby.

Almost 3,000 trees have been sponsored by family, friends and work colleagues of Paige Richardson, 36, of Bremner Street, Otley, who was swept out to sea on November 6, 1999.

Paige and her best friend, Annette Kinnear, also 36, and from Otley, had gone to the seashore to set off fireworks.

Planting at Hebden, near Grassington, has just been completed, following a delay of ten months because of the foot-and- mouth epidemic. Staff from the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust only managed to get on to the land in mid-December.

And Paige's parents, pensioners Sheila and Brian Richardson of Kelcliffe Lane, Guiseley, were only allowed access to the site at Wet Scar Wood, Hebden Gill, after restrictions were lifted on New Year's Eve.

Mr Richardson said: "We have seen the new trees set between the rocks and on the snowy hillside and it is very beautiful."

He and his wife were thrilled that Paige's work colleagues had found out that if there were enough sponsors, a whole copse or woodland could become a living memorial to their daughter.

Paige, who worked at paper merchants Wiggins Teape in Leeds, would also have been delighted because she had sponsored trees in the Dales before her death, he added.

The wood covers five acres and has been planted with ash, oak, holly, bird cherry, hazel, hawthorn, alder and mountain ash.

David Sharrod, YDMT project manager, said foot and mouth had delayed the planting by almost a year.

Planting had started in mid- December and been carried out by the farmer because he was eligible to access the land.

It was an unusual project because the whole wood had been sponsored by friends and relatives of one person.

The trust had won £7.5 million new funding from the Heritage Lottery, which would be spent on more environmental projects including woodland restoration, riverside projects and restoration of historic features.