A NATIONAL Trust volunteer, who has spent a year working at Castle Drogo, is preparing to embark on an extremely long walk home tomorrow (Friday) – all to help raise funds to save the property.

Eleanor Redgrave will be leaving Castle Drogo and returning home to Suffolk, following a route she has made many times when visiting her family. But on this occasion, rather than taking the train, she will be walking all 350 miles.

In order to make the most of this epic feat, Eleanor will be stopping off at a variety of National Trust places along her route.

Eleanor said: 'For the past fourteen months, I've had the once in a lifetime opportunity to live in Castle Drogo as part of my volunteer role.

'It has been a wonderful experience and, as a way of saying thank you for the fantastic opportunity, I would like to use this walk to raise money for the "Save Castle Drogo" appeal.'

The trust recently announced that its fundraising appeal for £1.5-million to repair the property had reached £1-million.

'The castle is battling for its survival as the building suffers from leaks and I would hate to see this big piece of granite crumble into yet another castle ruin – and besides its still only a hundred years old, let's give it a bit more of a life first,' added Eleanor.

Eleanor's favorite room at Castle Drogo is the scullery. To refurbish one of the scullery windows will cost approximately £1,500 and, therefore, she would like to raise this amount through her walk.

Eleanor aims to be back home in Suffolk on September 1. Members of the Drogo team will walk the first part with her.

National Trust staff and volunteers plan to support her by providing somewhere comfortable to stay overnight and keeping her energy levels up with a cuppa and bit of cake, or the odd bacon buttie.

If you would like to get involved and sponsor Eleanor, click on the following link: http://www.justgiving.com/Eleanor-Redgrave">www.justgiving.com/Eleanor-Redgrave