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A stone eagle on the roof of Dyrham House.

A stone eagle on the roof of Dyrham House. Image by Ben Birchall/PA Wire

An aerial walkway has been installed at a historic mansion house to allow visitors to see roof repairs close up. Builders are repairing and rebuilding the 150-year-old leaking roof at the National Trust’s Dyrham Park near Bath. The solid walkway, which is 160 metres long, features two viewing platform looking out over a deer park and formal garden.

Visitors will be able to watch as workers strip 46 tonnes of lead and 8,000 Welsh slates from the roof before rebuilding it.

The £3.8m project will preserve the 17th century house, its original Dutch-inspired interiors and collection of furniture and paintings.

Visitors view the roof repairs in progress on the historic house.

Visitors view the roof repairs in progress on the historic house. Image by Ben Birchall/PA Wire

Colette Cuddihy, the National Trust’s project manager said: “This is a major project for us – the roof is 150 years old and we’d expect the new one to last at least as long.

“So it really is a once in a lifetime chance to get up onto the scaffolding and to see the extent of the work needed to take apart such a large and complex roof and make it weather tight and secure for the future.

“We have used 500 tonnes of scaffolding to clad the house – it is designed to include a new walkway which circles the whole roof with two viewing platforms giving a view both inwards over the roof and out from the scaffolding across the park and gardens of Dyrham Park.

“It is fully accessible with a lift as well as stairs.”

The solid walkway is all one level and gives views of the split level roof.

Visitors will also be able to leave their own message on the roof by signing one of the new slates in return for a £25 donation.

The project to replace the roof also includes repairs to the stonework on the building and replacing the old heating system with a new biomass boiler.

Dyrham Park was built between 1692 and 1704 by government and colonial administrator William Blathwayt.

(Press Association)