The World of James Herriot re-opened today (Monday) after an early spring clean – and boasting a new exhibition.

The Thirsk museum had been closed for seven days to allow staff and volunteers to overhaul the period rooms.

“Everything that could be moved, washed, polished, dusted and hoovered has been – and a lick of paint was also applied where it was needed,” said centre manager, Alison Scurrah.

“It is very difficult to give any of the rooms a thorough clean when the centre is open every day of the year. But the weeks following Christmas are traditionally a quiet time so we decided to close for a week, put on our rubber gloves and get stuck into the cleaning. Without the help of the volunteers we wouldn’t have got through half of the jobs.”

The new exhibition - ‘Local Heroes’ - introduces visitors to three Yorkshire vets – Alf Wight, his partner, Donald Sinclair, and Arnold G Wilson from Scarborough. It recounts their veterinary life, hobbies and achievements.

The centre is open from 11am until 4pm daily (last admission 3pm) – for more details call 01845 524234 or check out www.worldofjamesherriot.org