"What time of night does the Loch Ness monster surface and who feeds it?"
Photograph: AP

Are there any lakes in the Lake District? Is Wales closed during the winter? In what month is the May Day demonstration?

These are just some of the bizarre questions asked of staff at one of Britain's busiest tourist information centres. Each year some half a million holidaymakers - from around Britain and from overseas - drop into the London office of UK tourism agency VisitBritain for tips on making the best use of their time in the country. But staff have been left scratching their heads at some of the off-the-wall queries they receive.

One visitor to the Britain & London Visitor Centre at 1 Regent Street wanted to know: "What is the entry fee for Brighton?" Meanwhile another asked: "Do you have any information on (former Page 3 girl) Samantha Fox?"

The royal family posed some problems too. One, likely jet-lagged, visitor asked: "When is the changing of the guard at the White House?" While another, unimpressed by the planning behind historic royal residences, enquired: "Why on earth did they build Windsor Castle on the flight path of Heathrow?"

London's Underground system also appears to have tourists flummoxed. Taking the name of one station a little too literally, one tourist asked: "Can you tell me who performs at the circus in Piccadilly?" Stranger still, one confused visitor wondered "What Tube line runs to Edinburgh?"

While tourism officials strained to keep a straight face and answer most of the unconventional queries, some questions were so surreal they left staff speechless, such as: "In what city is your Tokyo office?" or "Are churches in England open at Christmas?"

Encounters could be just as strange north of the border at the help centres of VisitScotland, where reported questions included: "What time does the midnight train leave?", "Which bus do I get from the Orkney Islands to the Shetland Islands?", and "Is Edinburgh in Glasgow?".

Pointing to the Western Isle of Iona on a map, one tourist asked: "How do I get to one zero NA?"

Going from the daft to the ridiculous: "Can you tell me where the mountain is in Scotland?", "Are there any curves in the roads here, or are they all straight?", and "Are there any Sheena Easton museums in Glasgow?".

One Loch Ness monster fan even wondered: "What time of night does the Loch Ness monster surface and who feeds it?"

Of course, visitors to Britain are hardly the only culprits when it comes to dropping clangers in unfamiliar surroundings. So we're all ears for your most ridiculous overheard tourist query - bearing in mind that it could be one of your own.