The pampered life of German prisoners held in Britain during the First World War has been revealed in a new book, including chamber music recitals, football matches and bracing walks in the Yorkshire countryside.

Officers held at Raikeswood camp in Skipton, North Yorkshire, did not have to work, so whiled away their days with group activities - a world away from the grinding hell of the trenches.

The soldiers spent much of their time keeping fit and active in the belief they could have to serve Germany again one day, and took part in a variety of team sports - including football, schlagball (similar to rounders), faustball (similar to volleyball) and basketball.

Some of the men also played tennis, while others took part in athletic events including running, high jump, long jump, discus and shot put.

The gentle regime seems to have gone down well, with a photo showing the POWs lounging around on deckchairs for a group shot - including one with its own built-in parasol.

Details about the camp emerged in a colourful memoir compiled by the inmates before being smuggled out and published after the war.

An original copy of the text miraculously made it back to the market town, where it sat in a shoebox gathering dust for decades - before being recently rediscovered.

Daily life at Raikeswood was, as would be expected, very regimental, with morning reveille, three daily roll-calls, three meal times, distribution of post and parcels and lights-out.

Prisoners were allowed to leave the camp for walks accompanied by one 'veteran' soldier and also indulged in cultural activities by organising a theatre group, a choir, an orchestra and a chamber music group.

They put on theatrical performances with elaborate stage sets and costumes, and even translated some plays into German, including Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.

University of Leeds researchers have spent the last five years studying the inmates' memoir, originally called Kriegsgefangen [prisoner of war] in Skipton, and it has now been translated and republished.

Fascinating anecdotes, sketches and poems reveal a rarely explored side of the war, at its very end and in the immediate aftermath in 1918 and 1919.

These include descriptions of the conditions in the camp, the daily routines, their activities, relationships with the guards and their thoughts of their homeland.

Anne Buckley, a German and translation studies University of Leeds, led the research project and published the book, titled German Prisoners of the Great War.

She said: 'It has been a privilege to re-tell these men's stories a century later. The resilience and innovation of the men within the confines of captivity was remarkable.

'Some of the accounts are humorous, while others are solemn, and some of their messages about nationalism and conflict are still highly relevant today.'

The original book, titled Kriegsgefangen in Skipton, was published in Munich in 1920.

A copy made its way back over to the Yorkshire town, although it's not known how or why, where it sat in Skipton Library for decades.

After being rediscovered around five years ago, Ms Buckley, along with a team of students, staff and volunteers undertook the monumental task of translating the century-old German text.

The book includes an extensive introduction from its editor, based on her research into the history of the camp, and the lives of the German prisoners.

A full list of the prisoners is included as an appendix. A number tried to escape from the camp but none of these attempts ended in success.

Ms Buckley said research in the camp is continuing through contact with descendants of the prisoners, some of whom have played a part in the publication.

She had the privilege of speaking to Wolf Kahler, whose grandfather Fritz Sachsse was the senior German officer in the camp and the first-named author of Kriegsgefangen in Skipton.

The researcher said it had been a 'privilege' to retell the inmates' stories, adding: 'This is an account of local, national and international history that still resonates with us today.'

Diary accounts of life at the camp have been published in previous years, with one POW praising the surrounding countryside but complaining about the weather.

The unidentified German wrote: "It rained and rained without stopping" before going on to remark that there was little sunshine and constant black clouds, the Craven Herald Pioneer reported.

Conditions for POWs in British camps during WWI were generally considered to be good.

The death rate for German prisoners housed in the UK was three percent, against 29% for Romanians held in Germany.

Serbs held by Austria-Hungary or British prisoners captured by the Ottoman Empire also had very high death rates, according to the British Library.

Conditions in British camps were improved by a ban on the use of foreign POWs for labour until 1917 due to concerns among unions that they would take jobs held by native workers.