ONE of the snowy street scenes by County Durham’s most well known artist is to be sold at auction next month.

Norman Cornish’s classic view of children snowballing in Bishop’s Close Street in Spennymoor is expected to fetch up to £15,000 when it is sold in Tennants of Leyburn’s Modern and Contemporary Art Sale on June 22 – viewing is on the two days before the sale.

Mr Cornish and his family lived in the street, with the railway line going along at rooftop height, and he painted many variations of the scene. Other versions have more sledgers in the street.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of his birth – he died in 2014 – and this scene is one of the stops on a new trail around Spennymoor which has been opened as part of the commemorations. A leisure centre now covers the site of Bishop’s Close Street.