The research examined six schemes, under which landowners and farmers were eligible to apply for grant funding for traditional farm building and drystone walling restoration: the Defra Pennine Dales ESA Scheme, Rural Enterprise Scheme (RES) and Countryside Stewardship; Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority's Barns and Walls Conservation Scheme; Farm Conservation Scheme and the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust.

The evaluation project focused on the period 1998 to 2004, during which investment in grants totalled over £6.71 million. The project sought to define the benefits delivered by this restoration programme in addition to the important heritage conservation work which was its primary objective. These collateral benefits include the creation of employment, inputs to the local economy, support for craft skills, advantages to farm businesses and tourism.

The research showed that building and walling schemes have contributed directly in up to £9 million to the local economy with every £1 spend on repair work resulting in £2.42 expenditure to the wider economy in barns, and £1.92 for walling, and that this work contributes indirectly to £2.44m annually to the local tourist economy.