A shop has opened in Durham offering produce from the region's farmers.

The Food Shop, in Claypath, was opened by Durham Markets Company to build on the success of its monthly outdoor farmers' markets.

The shop offers locally-produced meat, cheese, preserves and bread. It is managed by chef Joe Keenan, who played football for Scottish club Hibernian in the 1970s.

Colin Wilkes, of Durham Markets Company, said farmers' markets had tapped into a demand among consumers.

He said: "People were looking for something different, something they could identify where it came from.

"They wanted to know it had been in a farmer's wife's kitchen rather than a trading estate.''

Mr Keenan, who has been chef at Durham's Kingslodge Hotel and The Centurion at Langley Park, said of the shop's produce: "This is more healthy and it is a better quality. It is the sort of thing that a 'fine-dine' restaurant would buy.''

Mr Keenan plans to hold cookery demonstrations in the shop, which is open six days a week.