ONE of the ways in which the North-East's tourism sector emerged from those dark days of foot-and-mouth was through inventive thinking, which helped develop new tourist attractions.

Among them is a project in one of the County Durham areas hit hardest by foot-and-mouth.

Weardale needs all the help it can get because no sooner had it started to recover from foot-and-mouth than a number of companies closed, including the Eastgate cement plant, and hundreds of jobs were lost.

However, at the same time, a couple were working to develop one of the most remarkable tourist attractions in the region in the form of Harperley Prisoner of War camp, near Crook, based at the former wartime prison camp.

Behind the idea are farmers James and Lisa McLeod, of Bracken Hill Farm, who developed the attraction at what became the first camp to become a scheduled monument, following its recommendation by English Heritage in 2002.

The McLeods bought the land near their farm with a view to using the huts to store materials for Mr McLeod's fencing business, which, like the rest of the farming community, was affected by foot-and-mouth.

It was when they realised the camp's importance that they decided to turn it into a Second World War tourist attraction. The site retains 85 per cent of the original buildings, including a theatre and several wall murals painted by prisoners.

With the venture entering its seventh month and employing 22 people, Mrs McLeod remains committed to the importance of tourism to the area.

She said: "A lot of jobs have gone in this area and we hope to bring people to Weardale. We have already had thousands of visitors, including from Canada, Australia and the US, a number of whom had heard about us from relatives."

They now plan to expand. Only nine of the 49 huts have been brought back into use and the McLeods propose to use 22 more for a museum and convert 13 into chalets.

She said: "People can stay in the chalets for a week and use them as a base to explore the rest of the area."