AFTER more than 280 days of hard work carried out over two years by hundreds of volunteers, Osmington White Horse near Weymouth is back to its original splendour.

The historic monument was officially recognised by Princess Anne, who took the opportunity to meet representatives of many of the organisations that had worked on the site.

Dorset County Council’s countryside team led by John Hayes and Nick Tarrier worked with the Osmington Society to oversee the work. They were helped by Army cadets, staff from RNAs Yeovilton, the local Scout and Explorer group, students from Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester and by staff from PGL adventure camp in Osmington.

John Hayes said: “We started by removing the limestone scalpings that were put there by Anneka Rice and then we started work to get the correct historical profile of the horse.

“We did a lot of research looking at old paintings and then Stuart Ainsworth from English heritage carried out ground surveys and we had someone from Ordnance Survey undertake a GPS survey.

“Between the two experts we came up with the best interpretation of the figure possible. No-one really knows what it was like in 1808 but we think out evidence is as sound as it could be.”

John added: “I would like to say a big thanks you to everyone who helped with the task. It was a good example of local community working with the local authority and using everyone’s field of expertise to bring about the successful completion of the project.”