IT's the most off-beat tourism attraction North Lincolnshire has to offer - but it is proving a winner.

Last year an estimated 5,000 visitors jumped at the chance to tour the Scunthorpe Corus steelworks.

And this year even more are expected as the town celebrates the 120th anniversary of the start of steel-making.

To keep their guests informed, bosses at Corus have produced a new visitor leaflet.

And they have come up with some amazing facts about the 2,000-acre site which is the second biggest in Europe.

For a start the works is home to a wide variety of wildlife.

Eagle-eyed visitors cab spot some rare and protected species such as great crested newts, water voles, badgers, bats and roe deer.

Then there are the four proud Queens.

The four blast furnaces on the site are all named after British monarchs - Victoria, Mary, Bess and Anne.

Visitors are soon told the temperature in the blast furnaces soars to 2,000 degrees - hot enough to melt rock!

And the life of a blast furnace is around 10 years before it has to be re-lined.

Most people will be aware the works - in better times - can produce 4.5 million tonnes per year.

That tonnage would be enough to build 12 Empire State Buildings or 450 Eiffel Towers.

More than 12 million tonnes of materials come and go through the gates every year to help build everything from aircraft carrier to paper clips.

For the full story, buy today's Scunthorpe Telegraph.