A historic garden feature designed by the 18th Century landscape architect Capability Brown is being restored by a young craftsman from North Wales.

Barney Murray, 26, from Llandyrnog in Denbighshire, is working on a ha-ha, a sunken stone wall, at Wynnstay Hall near Ruabon, the former home of the Williams-Wynn family.

Mr Murray, who has previously worked at King Charles's Highgrove residence, said: "Restoring a Capability Brown ha-ha is probably a once-in-a-lifetime job. It's been here for over 200 years and hopefully I'm going to make sure it's here for another 200 years."

He explained that the ha-ha was originally designed to keep livestock away from landscaped gardens without blocking the view.

"The ha-ha was built to prevent animals like deer and sheep getting into the shrubbery and eating everything, and it extends around it for several hundred yards, all in stone, with no mortar," he said. "I'm not rebuilding it the way I would build it - I'm doing it the way those 18th Century stonemasons would have done it."

The project is being carried out in consultation with conservation officers because the feature is Grade II listed.

Mr Murray said he feels a strong connection to traditional craftsmanship.

"What I do is a craft as old as man using a material that's older than time," he said. "They talk about the oldest profession but people have been piling stones one on top of another since the beginning of time and that's what I do, and I give a 100-year guarantee on everything I build."

It has been a busy 18 months for Mr Murray, who has worked across the UK. He recently completed a wall on an island in the Outer Hebrides and became the first Welsh dry stone waller in 30 years to be awarded Master Craftsman status.

He also created an art installation called Cerrigoerion - "Cold Stones" in Welsh - from a demolished Vale of Clwyd farmhouse. It was first shown at the New Brewery Arts Centre in Cirencester and later displayed at the National Eisteddfod in Wrexham, where it won the People's Choice award.

"I am a Welsh speaker and a regular visitor to the Eisteddfod so it was special for me to be recognised there," he said.

In November last year, he was named Young Building Craftsperson of the Year, supported by English Heritage. The award, which included a £1,000 prize, was presented at Eltham Palace in London.

Earlier this year, Mr Murray helped restore a fountain in the grounds of Highgrove after being asked by a friend, a job which required security vetting before he could begin.

The awards have continued to come his way. This summer he was crowned Dry Stone Wall Grand Prix winner after a series of events in Scotland, Cumbria, Lancashire, Yorkshire and the Swansea Valley.

"Dry stone walling goes back centuries and there are lots of competitions and I managed to win the British Grand Prix this year including the event at Gwrhyd Quarry in the Swansea Valley," he said. "That makes me British Champion and Welsh champion while I suppose I am a World Champion after winning the only international dry stone walling event at Trentino in the Dolomite Mountains in Italy in 2022, because there aren't any other international competitions."

Mr Murray said his love of the craft began while he was at school in the Vale of Clwyd.

"I wasn't very academic but in the sixth form at Denbigh High School I had an amazing art teacher, Simon Sherrington, and he inspired me," he said. "I had always loved art and I knew I wanted to do something that involved working with my hands."

"I did enrol on an Arts Foundation course in Wrexham but then I met two dry stone wallers, Sion Alun Rogers and Xander Robertson, and just went off to work with them and never went back to college."

He said the work suits his temperament and lifestyle.

"It's not a stressful job," he said. "There's never anything to worry about other than if there's enough stone. Coming to work is just pure joy. There are no downsides to working and so I don't struggle to sleep at night."

Mr Murray said the Wynnstay Hall project feels like a career highlight.

"It's probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to restore a Capability Brown ha-ha so I'm going to make the most of it," he said. "I've made a good start and if the weather is good I think I can do it in a couple of months. I've got plenty of work looking ahead so I'm happy."

Young Welsh stonemason restores 18th-Century Ha-Ha at Wynnstay Hall