A RYEDALE tourist attraction has today pledged to bring more visitors to the area when it opens its doors for the 12th year running.

Old Malton's award-winning wartime museum Eden Camp, which has undertaken a major refurbishment during the winter, is expecting to attract more than a quarter of a million visitors during 1998.

Museum director Steve Jaques said: "Surprisingly, we're still considered to be a new thing, but word seems to be getting around, and our new exhibits should make it a great year."

New displays at the museum - which has more than doubled in size since it opened in 1987 - include two new shops in the Street at War, displays dedicated to individuals and an in-depth look at rationing.

Mr Jaques added: "Every year we add something new, so for our regular visitors it's like they've never been before.

"The electrical store should bring back some fond memories; we've got some old products of the forties, such as radios and vacuum cleaners."

Eden Camp is based around the huts of a genuine PoW camp, built just outside Malton in 1942. More than a thousand Italian and German prisoners were held there - housed 64 to a hut.

The huts have been adapted so that each building tells a different part of the story of the war, from the rise of Hitler and Nazism and the wireless broadcast by Chamberlain announcing the start of the war, to eventual victory.

"The museum isn't there just to show all the different planes," said Mr Jaques.

"It's one of the only museums to reflect the social aspects of the war; how the everyday person living in Britain handled the various disruptions to their lives - the ration books and everything.

"Probably one of the most popular features with children is the U-boat - a reconstruction of a submarine - they love it because it's so dramatic."

Eden Camp is currently open Mondays to Fridays, 10am to 5pm, with last admission 4pm.

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