ORGANIC dairy farmer Gordon Tweddle travels to London this weekend to receive a major industry award.

The founder of Acorn Dairy at Archdeacon Newton, near Darlington, will be named Organic Business Person of the Year during the 12th Natural and Organic Products annual industry awards dinner at the Hammersmith Palais on Sunday.

Mr Tweddle converted his dairy farm on the edge of Darlington to organic milk production in 1988 and established Acorn Dairy in 2000 to sell his milk directly to the doorstep.

Research he commissioned suggested there was a local market, but he still confessed it was the biggest risk he had ever taken.

However, his belief in the product and his passionate desire to restore the link between farmer and customer saw him take the plunge.

The fledgling business had only just got off the ground when the foot-and-mouth epidemic of 2001-2 struck and the dairy was, in Mr Tweddle's own words, "knocked sideways".

But despite having no fixed assets - his family are tenant farmers on Church Commissioners' land - he succeeded in securing business development funding and a sizeable overdraft to build an organic dairy processing unit for his 180-cow herd.

It gave him 100pc control over his milk from cow to customer or, as his advertising stated, "from grass to glass".

The direct link with a local farm has appealed to local people and Acorn Dairy is now thriving, with 2,500 doorstep customers in and around Darlington.

Customers receive regular newsletters telling them of developments on the farm and in the dairy, plus news about staff and the roundsmen. Open days have even been held for customers to meet the people - and cows - who supply their milk.

The eye-catching liveried vans supply a range of other organic produce, too, including bread, cream, eggs, and orange juice and Acorn Dairy milk is found in a range of other outlets including farm shops, restaurants and the Darlington Asda store.

The latest management accounts show a substantial increase in profits, and Mr Tweddle has cut his June 2003 peak overdraft by 40pc.

In January this year, he pulled off a major coup by becoming the first organic producer in the country to supply his local hospital with all its milk.

Darlington Memorial Hospital takes the equivalent of 5,000 pints a week to serve to staff, patients and visitors.

The awards are organised by the Soil Association and Martin Cottingham, marketing director, said: "Gordon has shown huge resilience and initiative to overcome the difficulties he has faced.

"The ground-breaking partnership with his local hospital is an inspiration to other organic enterprises as education and health authorities respond to the demand for healthier food."

* Gillian McKeith, TV presenter, nutritionist and writer, wins the consumer education award for the impact she has made encouraging people to eat organic through her Channel 4 series You Are What You Eat.