The new project board set up to look into the future of Witney's troubled Cogges Museum is sifting through ideas to make it a more viable proposition.

After a bumper Easter weekend, things are starting to look up for the museum, which operates at an annual loss of £250,000.

The plan is to identify commercial partners for new investment and increase income. The board has received 12 proposals or offers for the long-term future of the Oxfordshire County Council-run facility.

But an alternative suggestion of handing the museum into the care of the National Trust has been rejected.

A transfer to English Heritage, however, has not been ruled out.

The board wants to draw up a business plan by June and put proposals to the owners, Oxfordshire County Council, by the following month.

The museum, which faced the threat of closure five months ago, started its new 2008 season with a boost.

Over the Easter weekend there were 600 visitors and more season tickets have been sold than for the whole of last year.

Today, the museum's hands-on approach brought in a group of French teenagers for a visit.

The 16- to 19-year-olds from Lycee Montmajour in Arles, were shown traditional English baking skills in the Edwardian kitchen.

The museum has also received interest from further overseas, with a family in Hong Kong contacting the museum to say they plan to visit.

Carol Anderson, the county's museum services manager, said: "It has been a really good start, with amazingly good visitor figures.

"We have also had lots of suggestions from individuals and groups within the community and are looking at what can be taken on."

The project board was set up in February after County Hall agreed to decrease financial support over the next two years.

Visitor numbers have been running at about 25,000-a-year with annual operating losses in the region of £250,000.

The board, charged with finding a long-term solution for Cogges, will pass on recommendations to the county council about larger company and community enterprise schemes.

It has already met twice and is due to meet again next week.

Offers of commercial interest are at this stage being treated as confidential. But it has also commissioned a conservation statement about the historic fabric of the site and what changes might be allowed to some of the buildings in a more commercial set-up.

The site also has a watchdog and promoter in the Cogges Museum Trust.

Its chairman David Freeman said a volunteer day prior to opening had given the museum a tidier, more welcoming appearance.

He is setting up a new Patrons and Friends scheme, the idea of which is "to harness all the support and goodwill that has emerged since the museum was under threat".

The trust has taken on two new members - the Rev Andrew Sweeney, who is the vicar of Cogges, and Witney accountant James Robertshaw.