THE sleepless nights are over for goat breeder Pauline Kell, after she helped to deliver two kids to her prized nanny.

Pauline has been a lifelong goat fan, as both her grandmother and mother kept them for their milk.

She rediscovered her enthusiasm more than 20 years ago when she agreed to take in a goat for her sister who was moving house.

Mrs Kell became hooked on the Anglo Nubian breed and is a familiar figure at shows and goat society meets.

She and husband Eddie keep 20 goats at their smallholding in Browney, near Durham.

That figure increased by two in the early hours of Sunday when an Anglo Nubian nanny Pauline bought last November, gave birth to male and female kids.

It followed a week-long vigil, in which Mrs Kell made regular checks on the expectant mother in her stall every hour and a half through the night.

"I was told they were due any time between January 25 and February 3 and it's been a long last week or so, but I was thrilled when they finally arrived on Sunday. It was a big relief when Sunday night came and I had the best night's sleep I can remember."

Pauline is now looking for a name beginning with a 'K' to follow the pre-fix Kaprikel, which she uses with all of her Anglo Nubian goats.

She hopes to show the new arrivals when the season gets under way in May.

Anyone interested in taking up goat breeding is welcome to attend meetings of the Durham Dairy Goat Society, staged the first Sunday each month, at the church hall in Byers Green, near Spennymoor, at 2.30pm.

Further details are available from society secretary Jennifer Harbour, who can be contacted on (01388) 604284