GENEROUS praise by visitors to Settle have resulted in the town's tourist information centre receiving a prestigious award.

Staff and volunteers at Settle Tourist Information Centre have received a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence award.

The centre, which is run by Craven District Council and manned by a team of 25 volunteers, was given the TripAdvisor award after consistently achieving outstanding traveller reviews on the influential website.

The majority of reviews gave the centre a rating of excellent and many of the reviewers mentioned the friendly, knowledgeable and helpful staff.

Yvonne Fortune, tourist information manager at Craven District Council, runs the centre with her team of volunteers.

She said: “Because we’ve got such a mixture of volunteers, they each have their own specialities - some are keen on the outdoors and walking, while others have a lot of cultural and historical knowledge.

“What makes us special is we try to cover a wide area because our visitors often want to experience different parts of the Dales, or they might be passing through to the Lake District.

“We also make people feel very welcome. The volunteers here have a real passion for the area and they want to share it with people."

Hilary Richmond has lived in the town for 42 years and has been volunteering at the centre for the last two years.

She said: “We have a huge variety of information for people to look at and the people who work here are very knowledgeable. We find we can help people very well.

“When you’ve lived here for that length of time, you find the knowledge just seeps in. I feel very passionate about the area we live in, and the more you look at, the more you see.”