Six months after the start of the foot and mouth outbreak, Mike Laycock visits Hutton-le-Hole to assess the continuing impact

It has been a long and frustrating summer in Hutton-le-Hole, as Britain's great foot and mouth disaster continues to put the surrounding North York Moors largely out of bounds.

Even the local artists are feeling the frustration. "People like myself like to go out on the moors to paint our sketches," says Bill Potter-Campbell, chairman of the Hutton-le-Hole Art Group, as he prepares to open the group's annual exhibition at the village hall. "I've been having to paint from old sketches this year."

But it's the local businesses, so dependent on tourism for their income, who are suffering the most from the continuing crisis. There are visitors walking around the village during my visit, but not the throngs you might expect at a top tourist attraction on a sunny day at the height of the holiday season.

Barry Jenkinson, who runs the Moorlands guest house, formerly Burnley House B and B, reckons business is down by 40 per cent on previous years. "Overseas business - the Americans, the French - has gone completely," he says.

"It normally accounts for probably 25 per cent of our visitors. It has been wiped out altogether." He reckons the numbers of British visitors has dropped by 20 per cent, with the situation actually getting worse in recent weeks as people have heard that North Yorkshire is still being affected by the disease. Gordon Fairhurst, proprietor of the Barn Hotel and Tearooms, calculates business is down by 23 per cent. He says the tearooms are doing OK - it's the accommodation side that has been hardest hit.

Tearoom customers Christine and Graham Tait, from Shropshire, say they actually switched to the North York Moors for their holiday from the Dales because they wanted to avoid the Settle foot and mouth hotspot. They say their holiday has been spoilt less than for others because they are cyclists, and the tarmac roads across the moors are the one right-of-way that has not been closed.

The Ryedale Folk Museum has had fewer visitors than it was hoping for, but managed to avoid the dreaded slump. "We have worked exceptionally hard to stand still," says curator Martin Watts. "Everybody's help has been most appreciated." He singles out media coverage of the museum's attractions, including the Saturday night Days Out feature, in the Evening Press, for praise.

Down at The Crown, the village pub, there are certainly some customers, but there's no queue at the bar and plenty of tables are free for diners. "It should be packed now," says landlord Phil Mintoft.

"This is the middle of August and it's a nice day. There are no walkers. There are no foreign tourists at all. I don't think we have had one American tourist. We have had staff working shorter hours."

He says trade is down by 25-30 per cent, making it the worst season in his 16 years in charge of the pub. And he does not know if he can survive the winter. "I just don't know. It depends what help we get."

Updated: 16:18 Monday, August 20, 2001