The doors of the historic County Hall building will be open to the public for the first time in many years at a special Christmas event to promote its renovation.

The doors of the building in Market Square, Aylesbury will be open for the event on Sunday December 7 which runs between 11am and 4pm, alongside a specialised Christmas market also being held in the square.

A dance troupe will perform a piece inspired by the history of County Hall while young musicians, aged 7 to 19, will join in the fun by playing a programme of festive music.

Workshops on the theme of Christmas card and decoration making and cookie decorating.

The open day has been orqanised on behalf of the County Council by Meanwhile Space, a company specialising in making the best of unused space.

There is also a Christmas present wrapping service for shoppers who have purchased gifts from the specialist Christmas market.

The day’s events will finish off with an atmospheric family film.

Council leader Martin Tett said: “As part of our long term plan to revitalise Aylesbury’s town centre, the county council is investing to restore some of our most historic buildings, turning them into attractive centre pieces for the town.

“The restoration work isn’t finished but what better time than Christmas to allow the public to see what we have achieved so far?

“When finished we plan to open up this glorious building to the public for future events.”

County Hall is a grade two listed building which has been closed to the public for a number of years.

It was built around 1740 and is one of the town’s oldest buildings.

Bucks County Council has recently completed the renovation of the outside of the building and has now finished the first phase of the internal work, returning it to a previous layout.

Part of the building currently houses Aylesbury Crown Court.