Volunteers put in more than 6,000 days of work over the past year to keep the Yorkshire Dales National Park in tip-top condition.

Rae Lonsdale, the authority’s volunteers co-ordinator, said: “The volunteers range from the authority’s own Dales Volunteers and casual volunteers to community groups and students – and the work they do is phenomenal.

“Without them it would be virtually impossible to run some conservation projects and programmes that promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of what is special about the Dales.”

Latest figures show that volunteers gave 6,059 days in 2009/10, working on jobs ranging from surveying old buildings and repairing footpaths to supporting local and community environmental projects.