Daffodils are blooming, birds are singing and when the sun is out we can finally sense that summer is on its way. The better weather arrived too late for York's drive-in moviegoers, but it is welcome nonetheless.

It is not only the natural world which springs to life at this time of year. With the school Easter holiday imminent - traditionally the moment when the tourist season kicks off in earnest - visitor attractions around the region are revealing their new crowd-pullers.

This Easter, there is something for everyone. Lazy gardeners will flock to the Harrogate Spring Flower Show to see a demonstration of the Robomow. They might even start volunteering to mow the lawn in future if all it entails is watching a tireless automaton do the work.

Meanwhile, those with a taste for the macabre can choose from two new exhibits in York. For the first time the Jorvik Centre is displaying a real skeleton. And if that does not have you contemplating your own mortality, check out the cheerfully-named Pit of Despair at York Dungeon.

A very different stomach-turning thrill was revealed in the Evening Press yesterday. Magnum Force is Flamingo Land's 120ft-high, 80 mph roller coaster with the triple loop. Best save the ice cream until afterwards, we suggest.

Bosses of all these tourist attractions will be hoping for another sunny, warm summer to boost revenue. Except, perhaps, the administrators of Studley Royal. They are worried that this beautiful park will be ruined by excessive heat. That only goes to prove that one man's heatwave is another's hellfire.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.