Bramham Park dates back to 1698

The Leeds Festival promoters Mean Fiddler have decided to hold the August bank holiday event at Bramham Park, near Wetherby, a privately-run estate which dates back to 1698.

Some local residents are furious the festival, which was marred last year when toilet blocks were set on fire, has switched from Temple Newsam in Leeds.

But the hall's owner, Nick Lane-Fox, who has signed a 10 year deal with Mean Fiddler, says the proceeds will be put to good use - restoring nearly 300 acres of ground.

Farming decline

"We want to try and get the garden back to how it was," he told BBC News Online.

"Traditionally the estate has been sustained by farming but the way farming is going we are making a loss.

"A concert like this can make more in three days then farming can make in several years."

It was the first Lord Bingley, Robert Benson, who was MP for York, who laid down the formal gardens at Bramham Park.

Based on the French style of gardening contemporary to the period, the garden is set within a retaining wall offering walks and vistas, architectural features and reflecting waterways.

Temple Newsam was strewn with rubbish after the Leeds Festival

"There are six temples and several monuments that are 300 years old and they are quietly crumbling," said Mr Lane-Fox, the 10th generation of the family to live in the hall.

"We have ponds and cascades, some of which are leaking. These things all add up and the festival money will go a long way towards their restoration."

The festival will be staged on fields ploughed during the Dig for Victory campaign of World War II, enabling the estate to restore them to grassland.

Previous festivals at Temple Newsam have led to complaints from park users about the rubbish left at the end. Mr Lane-Fox has made it part of the contract that the clear-up operation will be a priority for Mean Fiddler.

"If the end product is that we have a rubbish tip then we would not have achieved anything.

"We are looking at three days of disruption to ensure the future of the estate."

The gardens are open to the public April to September.