A 300-ACRE family farm near Darlington has reaped the benefit of the countryside stewardship scheme, run by Defra.

The Vickers family, of Newton Grange Farm, Sadberge, are into the fourth year of a ten-year agreement and already wildlife has returned and old buildings have been restored.

Mr Renny Vickers and his son, Paul, aided by a CSS grant, have restored a traditional apple orchard, replacing some damaged trees with new stocks of the old varieties, including Bramley and a local apple, Albert St Lane.

They have restored a traditional field barn where tawny owls flourish and Mr Vickers is adding owl boxes in other parts of the farm in the hope that barn owls will also take up residence.

The farm has one of the few remaining lowland hay meadows left in the area as well as a rig and furrow pasture - 20 acres of old grass which has never been ploughed - where hay is made without the use of nutrients.

Mr Vickers is very proud of the conservation work that he and his son have achieved with the help of the scheme, planting 1,000 metres of hedging each winter as well as caring for a herd of 35 suckler Charolais cattle and 150 ewes.

Under the agreement, planting will carry on for another two years, followed by four years of maintenance. After this, Mr Vickers says he will definitely retain the two-metre wildlife strip round the perimeter of the farm and continue to maintain the work he has started.

"We have been greatly helped by CSS," he said. "Without them it would have been impossible on a busy farm to undertake all the environmental work such as coppicing, replanting and restoring areas such as margins and ponds.

"My son is very keen on the wildlife side and we like doing it. It's hard work fitting it in with the rest of the jobs on the farm, but it's given us another interest and it's enhancing the place. The farm is a much nicer place to walk with the dogs in the evening."

He hopes that more kestrels, already nesting in a hollow tree, will frequent the farm and that partridge, field mice, skylarks and tree sparrows will increase in numbers.

The biodiversity action plan for priority species has been part of the overall plan and farm walks in association with Tyne Tees Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group are already taking place.

The Countryside Stewardship Scheme celebrated its tenth anniversary this week. Under the scheme, farmers are paid to follow more traditional farming methods, with the aim of enhancing the landscape, encouraging wildlife, and protecting historical features.

Since its inception as a pilot scheme in 1991, countryside stewardship has attracted about 12,500 agreement holders, with up to 3,000 applications in the pipeline