Y Dolydd is one of the last unspoilt examples of a Victorian workhouse

Y Dolydd Building Preservation Trust in Llanfyllin, near Welshpool, has five months to repay a �340,000 loan used to buy the property in November 2005.

It has given itself until July to raise the cash otherwise the Grade II-listed building may be sold for housing.

In 2004, the workhouse, built in 1838, featured in the BBC Restoration series.

Following the Restoration series, the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) agreed to loan the preservation trust money to buy the workhouse.

Since then, various ideas about its future have been considered.

'Ambitious'

The latest plans are for a arts community centre, office space and tourist beds in the building, which used to accommodate 250 poor people.

Late last year, the Workhouse Group joined forces with the preservation trust to help breathe new life into the project to safeguard the workhouse.

Group spokeswoman Nina Wehling said: "We have set ourselves a deadline of July to raise the money, but it has to be repaid in September. So far we've only raised a few hundred pounds.

"Our plan is ambitious, but I believe our dream is more realistic now than ever - we just have to try.

"I've seen other projects pull it off so we have to believe we can do it."

John Hainsworth, a workhouse trustee, said plans to convert it into 25 apartments remained an option.

"The plans for the workhouse are hanging in the balance, and the workhouse team would agree with that," he said.

"The pressure is on to find the money through a campaign, otherwise the building will have to be sold, almost certainly to a developer."