An Ilkley woman is setting up a website to encourage people with illness or disability to get the most out of Yorkshire.

And Rachel Shepherd hopes her new site will be as successful as the one she has set up at her current home in the Algarve, in Portugal.

Miss Shepherd’s website, somewherespecial.org.uk gives the lowdown on the Algarve for holidaymakers with medical problems, special needs or disabilities and advises the best places to stay, see, eat and drink as well as other practical advice and assistance.

But now Miss Shepherd, who set up her first website after finding a lack of information and help about facilities to cater for her disabled seven-year-old daughter, Francesca, in Portugal, is hoping she can provide a valuable service for her home county.

“The website will be for both people visiting Yorkshire and for people already living in Yorkshire,” she said.

“The idea is for people who are already living there to be made aware of therapists that you can access for children or adults.

“People are sometimes stuck as to where they can find things and feel that they maybe the only person with an illness or disability.

“For tourists who wish to travel to Yorkshire we are looking for hotels and B&Bs that can either accommodate disabled people or have easy access for people with reduced mobility. This I hope will encourage people to travel to Yorkshire.

“Sometimes when you are unwell or have a disability you are unable to travel abroad, so it would be fantastic to encourage people to have a holiday in Yorkshire.”

The site is not yet up and running and Miss Shepherd, who spent 20 years living in Ilkley, said she is now looking to contact businesses in Yorkshire to get it under way.

“We need businesses to contact us via somewherespecial@live.co.uk to speed up this process because I live in Portugal, it is very difficult to be able to visit hotels, restaurants and other entertainment,” she said.

“So we are looking for sponsors for the Yorkshire site also. We will be proactive in our efforts but anticipate the Yorkshire site being a few months away from availability.”

For more information visit somewherespecial.org.uk.