An historic sawmill that is one of the hidden treasures of north Norfolk will be given another 30 years of life - thanks to a lottery windfall.

Gunton Sawmill was thought to be two years from closing to the public because its bedraggled thatch is allowing water to drip on the machinery, which dates from the 19th century.

But a chance meeting at the Norfolk Record Office led to a successful bid for £69,000 from the National Lottery, which will repair the thatch and enable volunteers to make the facility more visitor friendly.

Volunteer Russell Yeomans said: 'There was an exhibition about Gunton at the Norfolk Record Office and David Doak and I went along. 'We were talking to the organiser and he pointed us in the direction of a chap who was an east of England lottery fund manager.

'We bent his ear about the problems with the mill and he suggested we put in an application.'

He added: 'We were absolutely delighted to hear that we had been successful. Of the £69,000, £45,000 will be used to thatch the roof. We will repaint the outside and re-render the mill race where the water comes in.

'We are also getting matting to improve disabled access.'

Mr Yeomans said the volunteers - who opened the sawmill to the public occasionally throughout the year - wanted to 'make it more accessible and open it up to specialist groups'.

The mill was built in the 1820s and is unique amongst surviving mills in Norfolk.

It was built to take its water power from Sawmill Lake, and was designed to provide sawn timber for the 12,000-acre Gunton Hall estate, although it also has a small grist mill set on the beams within the roof area.

A small brick outhouse stands beside the mill, which was used as a smithy, a rest area and a workshop.

Mr Yeomans said: 'We were ecstatic about the money. We rely on Norfolk County Council for funding, but they are cutting back. We could see it being closed. Without this money, we were looking at that happening in a couple of years as the machinery won't take water dripping on it.'