DALES postmistress Maxine Raine has never been one to let the grass grow under her feet.

So when she first got wind of the threat to Britain's post offices, she set about diversifying in a massive way.

Today, her post office at St John's Chapel, in Upper Weardale, County Durham, not only pays out benefits and pensions to more than 200 customers a week, it caters for nearly every possible need of an isolated community.

* Newspapers and magazines are delivered and are on sale at a special counter.

* A local estate agent advertises homes for sale, along with tourist organisations in the North Pennines.

* Plants and flowers are on sale in a miniature garden centre outside the post office.

* An old desk is littered with posters advertising local events.

* Front windows are packed with gifts for tourists.

* National Lottery tickets are on sale for both locals and the hundreds of caravanners and other visitors who descend on the upper dale during the summer.

* Pet foods, which can be bought locally, are displayed in the window.

* In the latest venture, fresh fruit and vegetables are on sale.

* Until recently, there was even a Christmas grotto, which was open all year for locals and visitors.

When Miss Raine and her family took over the post office 20 years ago, they regarded it as "a job for life".

But if they are on the Post Office's closure list, they feel the commercial and social heart will be torn out of Upper Weardale.

"We will become a desolate village, like others in the dale," said Miss Raine. "Being a post office is just part of the picture. People come here from isolated homes miles around to chat and blend together.

"Like other post offices left in the dales, we are very much the social heart of the community."

St John's Chapel post office is the last heading west out of Weardale to Cumbria. The one at Wearhead closed several years ago.

Four other people, including Miss Raine's mother, Judith, are employed at the St John's Chapel office.

With the introduction of the fruit and veg counter, Miss Raine now sets off to a wholesaler in Newcastle at 4.30am to pick up produce.