Should we stay or can we go?

out of bounds because of foot and mouth restrictions

THE woman at the Yorkshire Tourist Board was adamant. You can have a nice day out, she said down the phone - but you must accept you won't be able to go walking. "All public footpaths are closed," she told me. "You will be allowed to drive around the moors from town to town, but not on the footpaths."

It was the same message from the North York Moors Park Authority. "I think people looking to come up on holiday have to accept they are going to spend time in towns and villages, rather than walking," a man told me.

Could he suggest anywhere for a nice day out? I asked, playing the part of a visitor keen to see the area but aware of the risks of spreading foot and mouth.

"Hutton-le-Hole. There's the Ryedale Folk Museum, the shops, and some very good pubs. It's very picturesque.

"Or you could go in to Pickering. The North York Moors Railway, I believe, is still running."

Thus armed, I set out. My mission: to find out what North Yorkshire still has to offer the visitor despite foot and mouth - and to try to gauge the effect of the disease on the region's rural tourist industry.

It was snowing when I left York, flakes drifting down out of a bitter sky. If foot and mouth isn't going to put people off coming here, this weather will, I thought miserably.

I headed for Malton first, then along the A169 to Pickering. As I drove into the town centre a yellow sign proclaimed: "Market Place Closed. Shops Open As Usual."

Foot and mouth? I wondered. But it turned out just to be roadworks.

The Beck Isle Museum Of Rural Life was closed but would, a sign informed me, be open daily from Saturday. So I headed for the North York Moors Railway instead.

I reached the station just as the 11.20am service was about to depart. The platform was crowded with excited passengers.

In one carriage, 47-year-old Vivian Ward, from Walsall in the West Midlands, was just settling into her seat with her husband and two friends.

"We came for a walking holiday actually, and obviously we cannot do any walking," she admitted. "But we have found other things to do. We have been to the seaside, and there's the railway. We are hoping we may be able to get off at Goathland and walk around the village."

I said I had heard that people are being encouraged not to.

She looked disappointed: and the group resolved to see what the situation was when they got there. The last thing they wanted to do, Vivian admitted, was risk spreading the disease. "We feel really sorry for the farmers."

Back on the platform I watched as the engine gave a cheeky toot and the train puffed off in to the distance. Abruptly, the little station was almost deserted.

Over a cup of steaming coffee, North Yorkshire Moors Railway chief executive Ken Kitching said there was no doubt that, because of foot and mouth, visitor numbers were a lot lower than they had hoped.

People just weren't coming into the area at all, he said. "And obviously, if they're not coming into the area, then they're not using our trains."

Nevertheless, the railway is very obviously open for business. There is a reduced service - the last train of the day in each direction, aimed at walkers, has been cancelled, Levisham station is virtually closed, and access at Goathland is restricted - but it will take more than foot and mouth to close this North Yorkshire attraction.

"We welcome visitors, and you can still enjoy the ride behind the steam engine and the scenery," said Mr Kitching.

From Pickering, heartened, I headed for the hills, turning up a narrow road towards Cropton and the low moorland.

The fields on either side were strangely empty and quiet, with almost no livestock to be seen. As I entered Lastingham I drove across a disinfection point, mats spread across the road.

Leaving the village, a blunt notice warned: "Foot and Mouth. Moorland Closed." If I hadn't checked with the parks authority before I set off that it was OK to drive (not walk) across the moors, it would have been enough to make me turn back. A little further on, I came across the first 'footpath closed' sign. A white notice was pasted across a stile and near it a smaller, official MAFF sign: "No entry. The right of way is closed to all users."

Hutton-le-Hole itself seemed almost deserted. A handful of cars were parked outside The Crown: and on the village green, a small flock of sheep were nibbling at the grass contentedly.

Sheep droppings were scattered across the road, surely there was a risk of spreading foot and mouth? Yet I had been specifically told Hutton was open for business.

Indeed it was, Martin Watts, curator of the Ryedale Folk Museum, told me eagerly.

"But there aren't very many people around," he pointed out.

"People want to do what's best, and so they do feel they should not be in the countryside."

I admitted I was puzzled by the fact people were being allowed into the village when there was a flock of sheep grazing on the village green.

"The sheep look as though they are loose, but they're not really," he said. "It's an optical illusion."

They were actually hemmed in by cattle grids at each end of the village, he pointed out - and there were disinfectant mats at each entrance to prevent the spread of infection.

At the Crown next door, I was welcomed by the landlord, Phil Mintoft, as though he had not seen a soul for days - and actually, he told me as I tucked into a delicious lunch of lamb hotpot, that wasn't too far from the truth.

"I should be full at this time of the year," he said, gesturing at the nearly empty pub. Business has been dismal. On Monday, he served just three lunches and three evening meals; on Tuesday, four lunches and no evening meals.

"We had three customers last night, all night," he said. "We are losing £3,000 a week and I cannot take it. Next week I will have to lay off some staff."

Phil has every sympathy for farmers - many of whom are his own regulars - and understands the need for precautions. But he is angry at the way the national park authorities have handled the crisis. He thinks they were too negative - and have put people off from coming altogether.

David Brewster, the national park authority's head of park services, admits he has sympathy for the rural communities suffering because of foot and mouth.

But he says the authority was right to take a strict line at first. Some restrictions may be relaxed soon, he says - but it won't be much.

"We know that if we get foot and mouth, the problems that commercial interests have at the moment will be nothing compared to what they would have then," he said.

"The whole area could be closed all summer."

Updated: 12:39 Thursday, March 22, 2001