A 16th Century house with a royal background is opening its doors to holidaymakers.

The Old Dye House, in Knaresborough, is on Waterside, under a cliff near the bottom of the Gallon Steps. It is being offered as a holiday home in an effort to boost the town's tourism industry.

Alison Hartwell, owner of Harrogate Holiday Cottages, said: "It's fantastic having such an historic property on our books. Some 500 years ago, this was the home to one of Knaresborough's oldest industries.

"The dye house itself was connected to Castle Mill and its purpose, as its name says, was for the dying of cloth, which we understand was then used in the royal household."

The house was built by John Warner, a skilled dyer. His son, Simon, an active royalist, was involved in a skirmish outside the castle walls, which saw him kill a Parliamentary soldier in his father's orchard near the castle.

Simon Warner inherited the Knaresborough business and his inventory of 1683 showed that he had diversified as a maltster. He also planted the last crop of liquorice in Knaresborough. It was used as a dye and he grew it in his garden under the cliff.

The Ibbetson family owned the property from the early 19th century to 1965. Between the two World Wars, the dye house stored rowing boats during the winter, where they were placed upside down on racks and varnished.