VISITOR numbers at Sir Edward Heath’s former home Arundells have increased despite the ongoing investigation by Wiltshire Police into historic sexual abuse allegations.

The investigation was publicly announced by the police outside his former residence in the Close at the beginning of August and there were fears that visitor numbers could drop.

Trustees for the house, which re-opened it as a museum last year, vowed to keep it open and publicly backed the former prime minister claiming his name would be cleared.

Wilf Weeks, chairman of the trustees, said despite the “little problem” it remains “business as usual”.

He added: “The figures are what we expected but are still up on last year.

“The exhibition [featuring pictures from the year when Sir Edward became Tory leader 50 years ago] is going down well.

“I think people are getting rather sickened by the whole investigation.”