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Eco-friendly youth hostel is a winner with tourists
Written by Jonathan Malory   
Green holidaymakers in Yorkshire get the chance to repair dry stone walls and preserve footpaths

Paul Jeeves - Yorkshire Post Today

IT MIGHT not quite be saving the rainforests from extinction, but Yorkshire is proving to be a must-book destination for a growing army of eco-friendly tourists.
Green tourism has taken off in the county as more and more people opt to help preserve Britain's rural heritage rather than taking advantage of budget airline breaks and falling prices for holidays in exotic destinations.
The North York Moors Park Authority is planning to introduce more eco-friendly holidays after the success of its first-ever break for green tourists in July.
During the week-long holiday, visitors from across Britain and Ireland stayed at the nation's first eco-friendly youth hostel in the North Yorkshire village of Lockton and helped install steps along a badly-eroded hillside above Goathland Train Station.
Another week-long holiday is being organised by the North York Moors Park Authority for May incorporating dry stone-walling and footpath preservation, and a second could be held in the autumn.
It is hoped similar breaks could be organised every few months within the next couple of years.
The volunteers officer for the North York Moors National Park, Graham Stubbs, said: "A lot of people are rediscovering the countryside in a different way.
"It is not about sitting at the seaside having an ice cream, they are coming to find out how they can help preserve the landscape.
"A lot of people who come to the North York Moors really fall in love with the place, and they often want to do anything they can to help. A lot of people who came on the eco-holiday this summer had travelled around the world, but decided they wanted a holiday in Britain."
The National Park Authority has also been organising holidays for international volunteers for several years, with people signing up from as far afield as Japan and Eastern Europe.
Hundreds of volunteers have been working on projects at the National Park this year, but staff stressed more are needed to keep pace with the demands of the new right to roam laws introduced under the Countryside and Rights of Way legislation.
The number of rangers has been doubled from four to eight as a direct consequence of the new laws.
The growing popularity of green tourism saw the £250,000 redevelopment of the youth hostel in Lockton installed with a host of gadgets to safeguard the environment.
Solar panels were placed on the roof to generate electricity, rainwater is used to flush the toilets and organic paint has even been used on the walls.
Walls have been stuffed full of sheep's wool for insulation, a garden roof introduced for a mini-wildlife sanctuary along with a toilet which produces compost, making it one of Britain's most eco-friendly places to stay.
It became the first eco-friendly hostel in England and Wales when it opened in March, and managers of the Youth Hostels Association (YHA) hope it will help increase visitor numbers by more than 50 per cent.
YHA Lockton had seen 2,000 people stay each year before it closed for the redevelopment in September last year, but the annual figure is now expected to top 3,000.
 
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