A NORTH Yorkshire museum dedicated to one of the world’s most famous vets has been named Small Visitor Attraction of the Year.

The World of James Herriot Museum at 23 Kirkgate, Thirsk, is situated in the building where vet James Herriot, real name Alf Wight, had his veterinary practice.

Visitors from around the world who are still discovering his books and the television series All Creatures Great and Small visit the restored building to learn about the world he worked in and veterinary science.

When Alf Wight died in 1995, Hambleton District Council bought the house and began restoring the building and recreating the original living quarters and sets. In 2012 the World of James Herriot became a privately-owned company and has continued to increase visitor numbers.

In 2013/14 the attraction welcomed a total of 27,000 visitors. Roughly a quarter of them were overseas visitors and included a large increase in people from the USA, Russia, Australia, Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, China, Korea and Brazil.

Now the attraction is the winner of the Gold Award Visitor Attraction of the Year in VisitEngland’s England Awards for Excellence 2015. The announcement was made at a black-tie ceremony held at The Sage in Newcastle/Gateshead on Monday (May 11).

Managing director Ian Ashton said: “Everyone at the World of James Herriot is delighted by this result and it is a great reward for all of the staff and our volunteers.

“Our passion for World of James Herriot means that through our activities we have increased visitor numbers year on year since 2012 and it is nice to be recognised by our peers.

“We have enjoyed rubbing shoulders with some of the big names in tourism at The Sage and it is a great motivation to be involved in the awards.”

In addition to the VisitEngland award, the attraction won the Visitor Attraction of the year 2014, for under 50,000 visitors in the recent Welcome to Yorkshire White Rose Awards.

Herriot Country Tourism Group member, Yorebridge House Bainbridge in Wensleydale also picked up a Silver Award in the Taste of England category.

The World of James Herriot also recently launched the James Herriot Legacy Fund initiative, which aims to provide bursaries for people wishing to enter the animal care world and for whom the James Herriot stories have been an inspiration.

Mr Ashton added: “We have invested £35,000 to date to improve our visitors’ experience and as a result, we have increased visitor numbers to 27,000 in a year, widened our global appeal and created a profitable business.”