There's a frenzy of activity at the National Trust's East Riddlesden Hall as staff at the 17th century mansion prepare for their millennium season.

Spring cleaning takes on a new meaning when the work entails polishing acres of wooden floors, rolling out yards of carpet, hanging pictures and dusting off furniture and exhibits that have been under wraps all winter.

And the work is not confined to just the inside. In the garden there are flower beds to prepare, footpaths to repair, doors and gates to paint and this year the preparation of a new walled orchard garden, planted with old Yorkshire varieties of apple tree.

And last minute work is going ahead on the bothy, which houses the reception and caf, where £89,000 has been spent on restoring the roof.

But smartening up the house - making it spick-and-span for the new season which opens tomorrow - isn't enough these days to drag in the crowds.

Like tourist honey pots throughout the district, and across the country, visitor figures have fallen dramatically in some cases.

East Riddlesden Hall had 24,000 last year, a fall of about a 1,000 on the previous year. In 1997 there were more than 30,000 visitors.

Assistant property manager Liz Houseman said: "Weekends used to be our best time but they're not now. Sunday shopping has had a big impact and I think people are more active - walking has become very popular.

"We're always having to find new ways of encouraging people to visit. It's very competitive. This year we've joined forces with the Bronte Parsonage Museum and the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, in Haworth, to promote each other.

"If people visit here, we'll be encouraging them to go on to the other sites and make a day of it."

Steve Kerry, head of Bradford council's art galleries and museums service, is starkly aware of the fierce competition and recently commissioned a survey into what was happening to the heritage attractions.

"The broad picture is that everywhere is down between ten and 12 per cent and in some instances much, much more."

He said that the shake-up in the education system involving middle schools had also had an impact because there were fewer school parties visiting museums.

The fall in the number of school parties has also had an impact at Cliffe Castle, in Keighley, where attendance has plunged by 20,000 to 76,000 last year.

A barometer to gauge the fall in schools attendance is the drop in the amount of cash in the donation jar set up by the Friends of Cliffe Castle, into the mouth of which children enjoy rolling coins.

Even two of the biggest tourist attractions in the area - the Bronte Parsonage Museum and the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway - have felt the pinch.

Over the last two years they have managed to put a brake on the fall - the railway holding on to 114,000 passengers and the museum pulling in a steady 83,000 to the famous shrine to the Bronte writers.

Graham Mitchel, former K&WVR chairman, said: "Sunday trade without a doubt has had a big impact and there are also so many other places for people to visit. "We've been going for 32 years and it gets no easier to get bums on seats," he added.

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