PINK elephants may be more familiar, but tourism workers were seeing purple sheep at the launch of a new initiative in North Yorkshire.

Stars of TV's Heartbeat joined with the 'purple sheep of the flock' to help launch The Purple Passport, a scheme providing discounts for the North York Moors area.

The 'passport' has been developed by the Purple Patch consortium of independent hotels and meetings venues to attract more visitors.

It provides visitors staying at the venues discount entry to 19 attractions, with savings of up to £75.

The purple sheep was just one of the attractions of the launch.

New Special Places tours were launched by the North York Moors National Park Authority, and a food-fest was offered by suppliers Moorsfresh with free tasting sessions and an exhibition to give people a taste of the Moors.

Updated: 08:44 Friday, March 21, 2003