Liberal Democrat MP for Somerton and Frome, Sarah Dyke, visited both Castle Cary Museum and Market House recently to give support to English Tourism Week.

The week, directed by VisitEngland, takes play from Friday 15 to Sunday 24 March and is an annual celebration of the tourism industry.

It highlights the importance to local economies and promotes the innovation, quality and range of products and services available to encourage more domestic breaks.

Sarah Dyke said: “It was such a treat to explore Castle Cary Museum’s treasures during English Tourism Week and I was thrilled to be asked to select my favourite object in celebration of its 50th anniversary.”

The strapline for this year’s campaign is ‘supporting tourism, the heart of our community’, fitting to celebrate the people, places, businesses, attractions, experiences at the heart of England's tourism sector.

VisitEngland Director Andrew Stokes said: “As the weather turns warmer and with Easter up ahead, now is the time to put tourism centre stage and showcase this wonderful industry which supports millions of jobs and communities across England.

Tourism supports hundreds of thousands of small-to-medium sized businesses, employing 2.6 million people and figures in 2022 show it generated £66 billion for the economy.