Whisky distillery to open near All Creatures Great and Small filming location Grassington despite opponents claiming 'it's not a traditional Dales activity'

The diversification scheme at Gam Farm will also see an agricultural machinery museum and tearoom open and the site become an 'open farm' that welcomes visitors.

The Wray family, who already keep rare breed sheep and cattle and sell their own wool, told the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority planning meeting earlier this week that the development would create significant local employment opportunities.

It will also capitalise on the expected increase in agricultural tourism in the Grassington area following the success of the Channel Five series All Creatures Great and Small, which was filmed in the town.

Full permission for the visitor attraction was given, despite parish councillors and local residents submitting objections, mainly on the grounds of increased traffic volume.

One opponent also pointed out that distilling whisky was not a 'traditional local activity' and another claimed that the planned staff accommodation was 'an excuse to build a larger house'.

Yet letters of support were received from Grassington Chamber of Trade and Grassington Forum, with both organisations commenting that the visitor farm would be sustainable, sympathetic, and a 'selling point' for the town which would boost its economy while complementing local heritage and culture and encouraging young families to visit the area.

Gam Farm's livestock includes the largest herd of Northern Dairy Shorthorn cattle in the country.

Chris and Helen Wray are not from an agricultural background and bought the farm - then a collection of ramshackle buildings - at auction in 2003. Chris still works part-time as a surgeon and Helen was a music teacher, and they commute to their land from their home in Gargrave. Their son Will also helps to run the business, which supplies meat to The Moorcock Inn at Sowerby Bridge.

The planning committee also granted permission for the development of the derelict Linton School Camp - a residential special school which closed in 1986 and has been disused ever since - into a tourist resort with a hotel, gym, spa, restaurant, bar and holiday lodges.