By work placement student Emily Rawlins, 24, who is studying for a diploma in newspaper journalism at Cardiff School of Journalism

Defiant tourists in Haworth have been braving icy temperatures this week to prove the foot and mouth crisis would not keep them indoors.

Shopkeepers reported a brisk trade during the Easter weekend, with visitors from Yorkshire and Lancashire flocking to the attractions they could depend on to be open.

Jane Hutton, of antiques and collectables shop The Souk, said: "There have been an awful lot of people about, especially on Easter Monday. A lot of people have come because there are so many other things to do in the village."

Ann Watson, of Hipperholme, regularly brings her children to the village during school holidays. She said: "We come for the sweet shops -- and the bacon sandwiches!"

Barbara Thomas, of London, and Lesley Reeves, of Oxford, were staying with a friend in Chorley.

Barbara said: "We wanted to go for a long walk in the countryside, but because we can't do that we've come here to spend money instead."

National publicity surrounding the foot and mouth crisis may have had the effect of giving tourism in the village a shot in the arm.

Ann Elizabeth Smith, of the Land of Gondal gift shop, said: "There has been so much in the papers about going away for Easter that it seems to have given people the idea."

Joanne Steel had come for a day out from Wrose, Shipley, with Abigail, aged seven, and Daniel, five. She said: "Abigail saw Haworth on Blue Peter and has been mesmerised ever since."

The Bront Parsonage Museum, which depends on admission charges for its revenue, has been experiencing patchy success.

Curator Rachel Terry said: "Trade has not been as bad as we feared, but not as good as we hoped."

She said the influx of visitors during Easter may have been partly because they had organised a special programme of events, such as story-telling for children. But groups from overseas are proving more fickle.

She said: "Most of the groups which had already booked are turning up, particularly from Japan. But some of our European groups have cancelled."

Outside on the streets, foreign parties were conspicuously absent. But shopkeepers say it is too early in the season to worry.

Barry Quickmire, of Heathland gift shop, said: "Easter is a blip in our calendar. We don't really start until the Spring Bank Holiday."