A FARMER ensured his beloved sheepdogs would have a good home after he died - by leaving them and his £500,000 farm to the man who used to repair his machinery.

Bernard Holmes left Snowy and Blackie, together with Lime Kiln Farm, at Amotherby, near Malton, North Yorkshire, to agricultural engineer Tony Fisher. Mr Holmes was one of many farmers who relied on the engineer and his son, Neil, who live in the village of Fridaythorpe.

But when Mr Holmes died suddenly, aged 70, from a stroke, Mr Fisher was astonished when a solicitor phoned to say he had been left the dogs.

Then the lawyer added the rest of the bequest - the 18th Century farmhouse, the land and 69 sheep.

In the farmhouse, Mr Fisher, 64, and his wife Gwen, 60, found a note from their benefactor.

"Keep the farm and give the dogs a good home," the note said simply.

Mr Fisher said: "Shock would be an understate-ment. It was totally unexpected.

"He was a customer, an employer. He'd call me when he needed a tractor or a harvester serviced or repaired - sometimes in an emergency when he was harvesting. I always called him 'boss', never by his Christian name."

Mr and Mrs Fisher are having the farmhouse renovated.

Experts have valued the farmland at £5,000 an acre, but Mr Fisher said: "I've had several offers, but there is no way I'd sell.

"I owe that to 'boss' and Snowy and Blackie."