A guest at the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle returned home yesterday having taken some tips on how to improve visitor numbers at her own museum in Hungary.

Andrea Fodor works at the Castlemuseum Nagyteteny, in Budapest, the country's only furniture museum.

She recently spent a week in Teesdale on an exchange trip, talking to staff from the Bowes Museum about how to boost the number of family visits.

Mrs Fodor is keen to attract younger audiences to her museum, so spent time observing a school session, as well as attending one of the family fun days, which are held during school holidays.

"The number of family visitors to our museum is not as high as we would like, so we are looking at ways to increase that," said Mrs Fodor. "But because space is limited, there are few possibilities."

Lisa Jeffries, education manager at The Bowes Museum, who recently visited the Hungarian museum, also took Mrs Fodor around several museums in Newcastle, Durham and York.

She said: "The exchange visits gave us a chance to learn from each other.

"It provided me with the opportunity to see many Hungarian museums, consider their ideas and the way we think and interpret our museum as well."

For more information about The Bowes Museum, call (01833) 690606.