After 12 long weeks a tourist attraction and wildlife centre near Helston is reopening to visitors.

The Cornish Seal Sanctuary at Gweek will be back welcoming people this Friday, June 19 from 10am.

To begin with, the centre will be only opening three days a week, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, between 10am and 5pm, but staff hope to increase this and add extra days as soon as possible.

The sanctuary said: "We have been really struggling during the lockdown and have been really concerned for our future, especially with regards to the upcoming pup season.

"As we rescue around 70 seal pups every year at an average cost of £2,000 each to put through rehabilitation, without our Easter and summer visitors, we have been left very worried.

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"However being able to reopen is a lifeline for us as it will really help us during this difficult period.

"Our animals have also been missing visitors, so we cannot wait to see their reactions on Friday when they finally get to say hello to them again."

It added that a lot of time and money had been spent on updating health and safety procedures, to ensure that all visitors and staff will be kept safe whilst they are there.

All visitors will need to pre-book a timeslot for their visit before they arrive, to ensure social distancing on site, with last arrival at 2.30pm.

Guests can book their slot online at sealsanctuary.sealifetrust.org under the tickets section. Those without a ticket need to buy one first and they will then be directed to a booking slot.

Visitors who already have a locals pass, existing ticket or voucher can go straight to booking their time slot.