THE Craven and Dales landscape which attracts visitors in their droves throughout the year is being highlighted by Yorkshire's favourite gardener Alan Titchmarsh.

In a BBC TV series which began this week - British Isles: A Natural History - the former Gardeners' World presenter whose roots are firmly fixed in nearby Ilkley, examines the evolution of the UK by looking at unique features of different parts of the country.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority was invited to take part because of the vital work it undertakes in protecting the landscape and its flora and fauna and because it has first class examples of the way nature re-colonises industrial sites.

On Wednesday November 3 the authority's ecologist Tim Thom will be featured in the sixth programme, called Revolution.

The programme examines the ways in which nature has claimed back heavily industrialised sites like the Hoffman lime kiln at Langcliffe - now the home of several different species of bats and wild flowers - Salt Lake Quarry, with its display of birds-eye primroses and Ribblehead Quarry, where nature is just starting to re-colonise.

Mr Thom said: "Lime production was a major industry of the Dales for many years and it was probably one of the most devastating industries there was from an ecological point of view. But wildlife has crept back, making these sites of great natural interest now."

Then, in a programme called Modern Times to be screened the following week (Wednesday November 10), the national park authority's limestone country project officer Louise Williams will explain how a unique scheme to introduce traditional breeds of cattle into the Dales is helping to save the living landscape.

Known as the Limestone Country Project, Dales farmers are being encouraged to swap sheep for herds of traditional types of cattle like blue greys and short horns that can survive the harsh winters living off the rough grasses.