VISITORS have been swooping in to one of Nottingham's most popular tourist attractions – thanks to the Caped Crusader.
Since Wollaton Hall became Wayne Manor for the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises, visitor numbers are up 31 per cent to nearly 230,000 last year.
The figures were revealed as part of a Visit England survey which also showed other city attractions pulled in more punters last year.
Among those who have headed to Wollaton Hall since the film is Melody Sheng, 21, of Radford. She said: "I know Wollaton because of the film and whenever I have friends from London here, they want us to visit because of Batman."
And Rob Kirkwood, chairman of the Friends of Wollaton Park, said: "I can see why more people would come to the park after it became Wayne Manor.
"I like that there's just the right amount of Batman stuff for people who have come to Wollaton Hall for that, but not so that it's too obvious to put off people who haven't."
Cat Arnold, executive assistant for leisure and culture at Nottingham City Council, said the figures were great news for the city. "We have been particularly pleased with the large boost in visitor numbers to Wollaton Hall following the filming there in 2011, and we hope more people will continue to come," she said.
Also seeing big increases in visitor numbers was Stonebridge City Farm, with 70,000 people going through the doors in 2013 – nearly 30 per cent more than in the year before.
Marie Rogers, manager of the farm in St Ann's, put the success down to word of mouth.
She said: "We still get a lot of people coming and saying they hadn't heard of the place before, but they tell their friends and they come along and the cycle continues.
"It's great to show off what we have here – I think the animals have the largest appeal for people and there's a great community here."
Nottingham Castle saw a sharp drop in visitors of 42 per cent between 2009 and 2011, but the latest figures show its popularity is back on the increase.
Some 196,857 people headed to the attraction in 2013, up 2.3 per cent on 2012.
The figures show the Galleries of Justice saw thousands more visitors through the door.
Executive director Nicola Burley said: "The marketing the city got through Experience Nottinghamshire helped, and we've worked on combined ticket offers with the Caves to make it a full day out."
Outside of the city, the D H Lawrence Heritage Centre, in Eastwood, saw a 7.7 per cent rise in visitors to 12,507, and Sherwood Forest Visitor Park was up 2.5 per cent to 345,564.
However, Rufford Country Park saw a 0.6 per cent drop in visitors to 458,611.
