Odd tourist queries revealed

Staff at the national tourism agency VisitBritain have been left scratching their heads at some of the questions posed to them this year.

These include such clangers as: "Are there any lakes in the Lake District?" And: "Is Wales closed during the winter?"

Unimpressed by the planning behind royal homes, one tourist wanted to know: "Why on earth did they build Windsor Castle on the flight path of Heathrow?"

And taking the name of London Underground stations perhaps too literally, another person asked: "Can you tell me who performs at the circus in Piccadilly?"

Other geographically-challenged queries included: "What Tube line runs to Edinburgh?"

Encounters could be just as strange north of the border at the help centres of VisitScotland, where questions from tourists included: "What time does the midnight train leave?", "Which bus do I get from the Orkney Islands to the Shetland Islands?", and "Is Edinburgh in Glasgow?"

Some of the other daft questions posed to VisitScotland staff included: "Can you tell me where the mountain is in Scotland?", "Are there any curves in the roads here, or are they all straight?", and "Are there any Sheena Easton museums in Glasgow?".

Another tourist wanted to know: "What time of night does the Loch Ness monster surface and who feeds it?"