A £2.5m project to transform the visitor experience at Norfolk’s 900-year-old Wymondham Abbey is now able to go ahead due to Heritage Lottery Funding worth £1.5m.

Improvements to the Grade I listed site include: two new extensions – including one within a ruined chapel; the removal of inappropriate architectural additions; a recreated medieval herb garden; and public access to county wildlife site Abbey Meadows.

A full time learning and events officer will also be employed for three years, and archive documents dating back 700 years will be conserved and restored.

MP for mid Norfolk George Freeman said: "I believe the abbey, set on the edge of the beautiful Tiffey Valley, can be a major attraction to visitors and could play a major part in helping to revitalise the town centre and in helping secure a sustainable future for Wymondham."