BUSINESS life is good in the wilds of York and North Yorkshire - it's and getting better. That's official.

Rural ventures, booming as memories of the foot and mouth outbreak fade, are now bracing themselves for even bigger profits this year as visitors pour back into the countryside.

The feel-good factor in the farmlands of the region is confirmed by the latest rural tourism confidence index run by the Countryside and Business Association (CLA).

It shows that more than 84 per cent of the industry - ranging from B&Bs to historic houses - feel "quite to very confident" about the short to medium-term future.

Businesses in this region's countryside seem to be in particularly buoyant mood.

Farmers' Cart, the award winning farm shop and caf at Towthorpe, on York's outskirts, which delayed its opening because of the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak, is now undergoing a £120,000 extension to prepare for a greater number of visitors this year.

Its manager, Ruth Consorth, said: "More and more are taking in what the countryside has to offer. That's why this year we are building on events like our Easter egg hunt and Halloween get-togethers and planning new attractions for the summer such as falconry, blacksmith's shoeing demonstrations and the like."

Steve Jaques cannot wait to reopen his new Wolds Way Lavender attraction at Wintringham, near Malton, on March 19, an idea conceived in the middle of the foot and mouth crisis. He is now building a distillery to process some five out of six-and-a-half acres set aside for lavender oil production.

So far he has had to employ 21 part-time staff to cope with the swelling number of visitors, but now reckons he will need to recruit another four permanent staff.

He said: "There must have been 20,000 visitors here last year, and I'd like to think that this year the figure should go up by 25 per cent."

But in the CLA report 59 per cent of respondents felt thwarted by such things as mounting red tape (24 per cent) and planning regulations (19 per cent). More than a third felt that they needed better advice and information about the grants available for expansion, and that better signage for visitors would boost their businesses.

The CLA's Yorkshire director, Dorothy Fairburn, said: "What we need now is for everybody involved - the operators, Yorkshire Forward, the tourist organisations and local authorities - to pull together and make the most of this new, buoyant mood."

The York-based Yorkshire Tourist Board says that the outlook is likely to be even more sunny for rural businesses this year.

David Andrews, its chief executive, said: "Under way is the record £2.8 million campaign to 'Make Yorkshire yours', thanks to funding from Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency.

"The campaign, targeting high-spending visitors to the region, is expected to generate an additional £24 million for tourism in Yorkshire - so rural businesses have every reason to look forward to the year."

Updated: 10:53 Thursday, February 10, 2005