AN East Dorset tourist attraction could be saved from closure and sold as a going concern.

Owners of The Heavy Horse Centre at Verwood said several people had expressed interest in buying the complex.

Susan Coombs told the Daily Echo: "We have had quite a lot of interest and at the moment we hope it will continue as a heavy horse centre.

"We should know in a couple of weeks."

Mrs Coombs and her husband Stuart bought the centre five years ago but have been struggling to recover from the foot and mouth crisis when visitor numbers dropped significantly.

"At the moment we are quite busy, even though it is very hot and many people are heading for the beach, but we have decided we have had enough," she said.

The centre is home to 12 heavy horses including Percherons, Clydesdales, Shires, Ardennes and a Suffolk, plus six miniature Shetlands, five llamas and ten miniature goats.

The Coombs are only the second owners in the attraction's 19-year history.

"We hoped we were going to do well and I think we would have done if it hadn't been for foot and mouth.

"The first two years were very good and we put every penny back into the centre.

"The third year there was foot and mouth and there was virtually nothing. I just can't put any more money into it.

"We want to concentrate on showing horses and have qualified with one of the Arabs for the Horse of the Year show in September."