A MULTI-MILLION pound restoration project starts this week to give Tredegar's Bedwellty House a new lease of life.

After the landscaping and infrastructure was finished earlier this year, work on the main restoration begins in earnest.

The £5.5 million project is due to be finished by early 2011.

Blaenau Gwent council appointed Swansea-based contractors John Weaver Ltd to carry out the work on the grade II listed building.

The building, parts of which date back to the early 19th century, is being restored thanks to funding from groups including the Heritage Lottery Fund, Heads of the Valleys programme and CADW.

The park surrounding the house will also be overhauled and once the transformation is complete, Tredegar Town Council and the council's registration service will be housed there.

Both the house and grounds will be licensed for weddings.

The restoration work includes extending the Orchard House as a cafe and restaurant, building a new atrium entrance and courtyard and refurbishing the stable blocks for use in exhibitions.

The council's executive member for leisure and culture, Jason Owen, said: "The restored Bedwellty House and Park will give visitors a real feel for what the house was like back in the time of the industrial revolution and the early days of Nye Bevan."