Bradford on Avon Preservation Trust has received an Area Board grant to enhance facilities at Barton Farm.

The trust is in the process of taking over management of the Tithe Barn as a venue for community events and was allocated the £5,000 Community Area Grant last Wednesday.

English Heritage, which owns the barn, requires it to be carefully protected and the money will go towards storing protective flooring, lighting and tools for a proposed orchard in Nursery Field.

Simon Relph, a member of the Preservation Trust’s committee of management, said: “We will reinstate the lean-to that was at the end of the granary building, which will provide us with the space to put all the equipment.

“We have applied for the field in-between the Tithe Barn and Victory Field, with a view to planting a community orchard and using part of it for a support area for the Tithe Barn.”

The trust hopes the Tithe Barn will be used for up to six community events a year, including plays – such as Noye’s Fludde, which was performed in the barn last summer – and flower and vegetable shows.

Chairman David Moss, said: “We have been in discussions with English Heritage about taking over the management of the Tithe Barn and Wiltshire Council about taking over the field.

“It is still a work in progress and we hope it will [happen] in the spring.

“We are very grateful to the Area Board for granting this money to make it all work.”