Foot-and-mouth impact Visitors steer clear of parts of England

Howard Christie has never seen anything like it. Just a few weeksago, the popular hideaway he runs in England's scenic Lake District,the Wasdale Head Inn, was teeming with visitors. You couldn't get aroom.

But then came the first reports of foot-and-mouth disease, thehighly contagious illness that is spreading through England'slivestock herds and has prompted British authorities to virtuallyseal off the countryside.

Almost overnight, the tourists disappeared.

``People come here to walk along the lakes and in the mountains.They follow the footpaths from inn to inn,'' he says. ``But the onlything you can walk on now is tarmac. If farming is the backbone ofour …