HOW can you get to a doctor's appointment if your village only has two buses a week?

How do you pick up your child from school several miles away if you have no car?

How do you get money in a hurry if your village has no bank or post office?

Twenty per cent of households in Upper Weardale do not own a car and these are questions they are faced with regularly.

On a sunny day it is harder to imagine a more serene place than the Durham dales.

But the tranquil scenery masks a struggle with poverty and difficulties that can be as marked as those in any city.

A report commissioned by Durham County Council on rural poverty in its area found that across County Durham there were "pockets of chronic deprivation in former mining and marginal rural villages which were as severe as anything experienced in Newcastle, Liverpool or Hackney".

Durham Rural Community Council has just completed an eight-month draft report into the priorities for regeneration in Upper Weardale, which covers remote communities including St John's Chapel, near the Cumbrian border, Ireshopeburn and Wearhead. It incorporates the results of an earlier study into the rest of Weardale.

The appraisal consulted businesses, farmers, village hall committees, young people and other organisations, and found that isolation affected young and old.

Although advantages in rural living, such as low crime rates and good community spirit, were cited by most villagers, they also felt there was a lack of services, including regular transport or sports facilities.

As in many rural areas, there is a steady drain of young people from Weardale, driven away by a lack of opportunities and affordable housing.

Angela Percival, 17, is studying childcare at Bishop Auckland College. She lives in Frosterley but does not drive.

Although her village is one of a few with a regular bus service, it takes her about an hour on the bus get to Bishop Auckland, which is ten miles away.

She said: "I can't go to the pictures unless I go with a friend who drives, and I can't hang around with my friends after college, because I have to run and get the bus.

"It would be nice if there was something to do in the village, but I'm too old to go to youth clubs."

Rural areas also have drugs problems.

David Cliff, from the Durham and Darlington Drug Action Teams, said they found people will experiment with a wider range of drugs than those in the city because they do not have a regular supply and they also suffered from a lack of access to services such as needle exchanges.

There is a small army of voluntary groups trying to over come rural isolation, such as the volunteer charity RSVP, which sends out volunteer drivers in their own cars to take people to doctors' or hospital appointments.

Presently the service only runs in Teesdale, but one is planned for Weardale.

Ken Saxby, from the group, said: "We take people to doctors' surgeries and wait around, and sometimes call by at the pharmacist or call and get them some shopping.

"They do appreciate us. We do meet people who would not have got there if it wasn't for us.