THE National Trust is adopting the English Riviera.

From Saturday the charity's South Devon holdings will be known as the English Riviera properties.

Robyn Brown, general manager explained the trust had been debating the name for local properties for some months.

"We realised that the English Riviera really does sum up the offer in our diverse places which includes Greenway at Galmpton, Coleton Fishacre at Kingswear, coast and countryside, Compton Castle at Compton and Bradley Manor in Newton Abbot.

"We were given even greater confidence when we discussed the name change with the English Riviera Tourism Company who conducted extensive research into the name of the Bay and concluded that visitors did not recognise Torbay as a name or a geographic area.

"There is a much greater recognition both nationally and internationally with English Riviera. The trust and the ERTC worked closely in partnership, so it made event more sense to share the name," said Ms Brown who is a director of the tourism company.

Carolyn Custerston, chief executive of the ERTC, said their aim is to to relaunch the English Riviera as 'a leading and inspiring all year round destination'.

She said: "The National Trust properties and land are a strong asset in our range of visitor facilities, particularly Greenway with the growing interest in the Agatha Christie legacy and we are absolutely delighted that the National Trust has shown such confidence in what we are trying to achieve by adopting the English Riviera brand name."

The change was confirmed at a meeting of some 250 National Trust volunteers and staff at the Grand Hotel in Torquay.