A CYCLE ride through some of the prettiest villages in the region will be raising money for a new hospice for North-East babies.

The 30-mile ride, through the North Yorkshire villages of Great Ayton, Faceby and Hutton Rudby, has been organised by staff at Safeway stores throughout the region and will top a week of fundraising events, including a trolley dash and a treasure hunt.

More than 100 cyclists, aged from 13 to 70, are expected to take part in the ride and raise more than £6,000 for Zoe's Place, the baby hospice run by the Life charity and based at the former convent in Normanby High Street, Teesside.

The event raises money for a different charity each year and last year raised more than £4,000 for the Multiple Sclerosis Centre at South Bank, Teesside.

Organiser Paul Mackintosh, of Safeway, said: "If the weather is nice, it will be a pleasant ride - with the sting in the tail of climbing Clay Bank, south of Great Broughton."

It leaves Safeway, in Stokesley, at 10am on Sunday after a cheque for £1,000 has been presented to Zoe's Place general manager Mark Guidery following donations from Safeway suppliers.