YORKSHIRE farmers are up in arms over plans to declare Cumbria "the spiritual home" of the Swaledale sheep.

Swaledale is in the Yorkshire Dales. But a £300,000 project aims to create a Swaledale visitor centre at Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria.

Harrison and Hetherington, who own Kirkby Stephen's auction mart, is investing £100,000 in the scheme. The rest of the money is coming from the EU.

The centre will include an exhibition hall, an auditorium, restaurant facilities, a small retail outlet and a small viewing gallery from which the public can view live sheep sales.

Stuart Bell, senior auctioneer for H&H, said the new visitor centre would promote and market the breed,

"We are doing this because Kirkby Stephen is recognised as the main sales centre for the Swaledale breed," he said.

But the plan has gone down like a lead balloon in the Yorkshire Dales, where the auction mart in Hawes is planning to open its own visitor centre, which would include an exhibition celebrating all Dales sheep breeds.

General manager Maurice Hall said: "We feel a bit gazumped by this. It's difficult to comment diplomatically.

"We've had plans for a visitor centre with a Sheep Story feature, in which the Swaledale would be very prominent, for the last five years. We've done a feasibility study and have a plan. All we need now is to decide how much we need and where the funding's coming from.

"I wouldn't accept that Kirkby Stephen is the spiritual home of the Swaledale. They are our principal competitor. We vie with them on which of us is the premier location for Swaledale sales."

Mr Hall was dismissive of the Kirkby Stephen bid.

"I don't think they'll get much for £300,000," he said. "We are thinking in terms of a seven-figure centre here. And we get lots of visitors here in Hawes. Kirkby Stephen is not a tourist centre."