Blackpool Pleasure Beach remains the UK's top tourist spot

The number of visitors to attractions in the UK was up eight per cent last year, according to figures from Visit Britain.

Farm visits, severely hit by the foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2001, rose 46% in 2002.

Visit Britain chief executive Tom Wright said: "These improvements are excellent news for both our countryside and urban destinations."

Attendance at wildlife attractions were up 13%, country parks up 12% and gardens up 11%.

Top Ten Paying Attractions 2002 Millennium Wheel, London 4,090,000 (+6.2%) Tower of London 1,940,856 (-3.9) Eden Project, St Austell, Cornwall 1,832,482 (+7.8) Legoland Windsor 1,453,000 (-11) Flamingo Land, Kirby Misperton, N Yorks 1,322,000 (+5.4) Windermere Lake Cruises, Cumbria 1,266,027 (+1.9) Drayton Manor Park, Staffordshire 1,200,000 (+25) Edinburgh Castle 1,153,317 (+2.4) Chester Zoo 1,134,949 (+7) Canterbury Cathedral 1,110,529 (-3.5) *change on 2001 in brackets

The free-admittance policy at museums and art galleries helped the Science Museum in London to receive 94% more visitors.

Elsewhere in the capital, the Victoria and Albert was up 84% and the Natural History up 74%.

The Millennium Wheel - officially known as the British Airways London Eye - was the top admission-charging attraction last year, with 4.09 million visitors, 6.2% up on 2001.

Once again, Blackpool Pleasure Beach was the top free-admission attraction, but visitor numbers, at 6.2 million, were 4.6% down on 2001.

Tourism Minister Richard Caborn said: "Attractions are at the very heart of our tourism industry's continuing recovery - these positive figures bear that out."

Mr Wright said: "We have some of the best attractions in the world and it is greatly encouraging to see that people have been out and about enjoying what they offer.

"From the high-profile new attractions to the smaller rural attractions, visitors have been discovering that England provides us with great experiences right on our own doorstep."

Some venues are still suffering from the continuing downturn in foreign tourists.

The Tower of London was down 3.9% in visitor numbers, Canterbury Cathedral down by 3.5% and St Paul's Cathedral reduced by 6.7%.