SPRING is well and truly in the air at a countryside attraction which was hit by the foot-and-mouth crisis last year.

Murton Park, home of the Yorkshire Farming Museum, saw visitor numbers drop by 40 per cent last year.

But now things are on the up - with the help of some new arrivals.

Two calves, a Charolais cross called Anchor and an Aberdeen Angus called Clover, came into the world last week, followed a day later by a rare Soay lamb.

They have joined a collection of sheep, piglets, rabbits, chickens, ducks and a pony, on the 12-acre estate near York, which is also home to recreations of a Viking settlement, Roman fort and the Derwent Valley Light Railway.

Site manager David Thirlwall said farm animals were not on view to the public during last year's foot-and-mouth crisis.

"We did struggle last year. Visitor numbers were down by 40 per cent, but obviously things were much more difficult for the farming community.

"We managed to keep going thanks to our living history projects.

We now deal with, both on and off site, more than 55,000 schoolchildren year."

The Roman fort was recently temporarily transformed into a Texan fort and occupied by members of the Western re-enactment group Trailblazers.