THE gradual renovation of Avebury Manor from its low point as part of a prospective theme park to its present splendour will form part of a new series on BBC1.

The National Trust, which has owned the property since the early 1990s, has linked up with the BBC to produce To the Manor Reborn, starring actress Penelope Keith, who played the main character in the 1980s sitcom of almost the same name.

Paul Martin, the former Marlborough antique dealer who rose to fame in the daytime TV show Flog It, will co-present.

The programme will follow the work of a team of historians, experts and volunteers refurbishing the 500-year-old Avebury Manor, putting the country house into a national, historic perspective.

The house has been refurbished so that members of the public can visit it and be able to touch and enjoy all aspects of the house.

The manor was put on the market in 1990 at a guide price of £1.25 million and was bought by businessman Ken King, who had plans to turn the building and its grounds into a medieval theme park.

Kennet District Council strongly opposed the idea and a number of planning applications were turned down. Mr King had already begun work to convert the property and, after it was eventually acquired by the National Trust, hundreds of thousands of pounds had to be spent on remedial work.

The manor house finally opened fully to the public two years ago, and the programme, which will be broadcast later this year, will follow the work already done and the conservation still taking place.

The manor house was built in about 1557 on the site, or close to it, of a small Bene-dictine monastery, founded in the early 12th century and dissolved in about 1414.

Visitors to the house have included Queen Anne, the antiquaries John Aulvey and William Stukley, the Egypt-ologist Sir William Flinders-Petrie, the artist Paul Nash and poet laureate Sir John Betjeman.