FARNDALE will be overrun with daffodil visitors once again this year.

There are high hopes the 2002 tourist season will be a bumper event, boosted by the message It's Your Countryside, You're Welcome.

The national campaign is targeting visitors this week, in a bid to tempt them back into the countryside over Easter and the summer months.

And at the Daffy Caf, in Farndale, boss Joanna Marshall is gearing up for the thousands of visitors who flock to see the wild daffodils in the North York Moors National Park.

Up to 50,000 visitors are expected, and traders are hoping to get the season off to a flying start after the valley was deserted last year due to the foot and mouth epidemic.

Joanna said: "We are readying ourselves for the welcome return of daffodil spotters.

"The daffodil shuttle bus from nearby Hutton le Hole, from March 29, will drop visitors at our doors."

A new mobile information point is planned for the dale from mid-March, manned by volunteer rangers.

Area ranger and local resident Frank Pickles said: "Everyone is looking forward to seeing visitors back in the countryside after last year as it will signal a change back to normality.

"The visitors have become an essential source of income locally, which meant their absence last year due to foot and mouth restrictions hit a lot of businesses hard."

Updated: 11:35 Wednesday, March 13, 2002