Maria visited Milestones Living History Museum, where she was welcomed by Cllr Keith Chapman (Hampshire County Council’s Executive Member for Culture and Recreation) and Cllr Elaine Still (Cabinet Member for Communities, Sport and Culture at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council), as well as staff of the Museum and Felicity Edwards from Destination Basingstoke.

Maria visited a number of the exhibits at Milestones, and also saw some of the  highlights of the current LEGO Mania 2013, including a huge model of the Olympic Stadium and the ongoing building of a four metre long Thorneycroft truck from 150,000 Lego bricks.

While she was at Milestones, Maria also met Simon Ward, Chief Executive of Airkix, which will be Basingstoke’s newest tourist attraction, when it opens its indoor skydiving centre at the Leisure Park in June 2013.

Maria said: “I was really delighted to have the opportunity to mark English Tourism Week in Basingstoke, by visiting a long established and very popular visitor attraction and also hearing about an exciting new attraction. Hampshire is the most visited county in the south east and tourism makes a very big contribution to our local economy – around £2.6 billion a year, and supports more than 60,000 jobs.”