A WALKING group’s tours of Wharfedale are set to be used as a blueprint in Japan after a delegation paid a visit to the area.

Professors Yuko Shioji and Tatsuya Suzuki were given a guided tour of Baildon, Otley and Burley-in-Wharfedale by members of the respective towns’ Walkers are Welcome groups, who run guided walks.

Their visit to the district was part of a two-week tour. The Japanese contingent were taken on part of the Walkers are Welcome’s 35-mile circular trek which includes Ilkley Moor and Shipley Glen.

They contacted the national Walkers are Welcome body and lined up a visit to district. They will also travel to the Cotswolds and have already been to Scotland during their fact-finding mission.

Prof Shioji, of Hannan University in Osaka, said their visit formed part of a Japanese Government-funded research programme to encourage more people to move to the countryside.

She said they would use the Walkers are Welcome model to create similar groups in Japan.

Prof Shioji said: “The countryside in Japan is de-populated.

“We want to try to encourage people to move to the countryside in Japan from the cities.

“It is very nice countryside here. I thought I was in heaven. There was lots of fields with purple and pink colours all ahead of you. It is different from the Japanese landscape.

“The Walkers are Welcome groups are very active people. They have a lot of community spirit.

“I am a social anthropologist and our project researches footpaths and revitalising local areas.”

The pair from Japan now plan to set up similar Walkers are Welcome groups back home.

The district’s groups said it was good for them to share their work with the visitors.

Chris Flecknoe, secretary of Baildon Walkers are Welcome, said: “It is really nice to get people coming from overseas. We had a visitor from Australia on one of our walks who had heard about our group.

“The professors said a lot of people have moved out to the cities in Japan and away from the countryside. It is great to have them here and I hope we can learn things from them too.”

David Smith, a walk leader for Bingley Walkers are Welcome, said: “The group’s walks encourage people to get in the towns and use the businesses as well. It is an advertising thing for them really.

“The walks we do give people a chance to appreciate the history we have got.”