SIXTY years after prisoners of war were locked away on a secluded North-East hillside, an enterprising couple are hoping they can attract willing guests to spend some time there.

Lisa and James McLeod want to turn Harperley Camp, in County Durham, into a monument to the thousands of Italian and German men who whiled away the years of conflict behind its fences.

Regarded as a low security risk, the men were taken out during the day to work on farms and mixed easily with the local community.

The rest of the time, however, they spent creating a little bit of their homeland in the 50 huts which have become one of County Durham's best kept secrets.

The camp is hidden among fir trees on the road west from Crook to Weardale and has only recently come to the attention of English Heritage, which is looking to add it to an exclusive list of scheduled monuments.

The 20-acre site's new owners, Mr and Mrs McLeod, can see it from their farm across the valley, and hope it will bring them an exciting new future after a year blighted by foot-and-mouth disease.

They lost their stock at the height of the outbreak and, although they are not turning their backs on farming, were looking for a new venture when a previous project to bulldoze the camp and build a technology park fell through.

The sale was clinched last year, and Mr McLeod has spent the past few weeks hacking through the jungle of fruit trees and weeds that have been allowed to take over the site.

Despite the years of neglect, the huts remain in robust condition - a testimony to the craftsmanship and care shown by the Italian prisoners pressed into constructing the camp at the beginning of the war.

Most have been stripped of their fittings and used by their previous owner as chicken sheds and for agricultural storage, but two, in particular, bear poignant testimony to how the unwilling guests eased the boredom of incarceration.

The camp theatre echoes with ghosts of long-forgotten shows performed on a concrete stage to a captive audience ranged on concrete terraces.

There is even an orchestra pit and dressing rooms.

The McLeods have already spotted the earning potential of ten beautifully detailed murals painted by prisoners homesick for the mountains and forests they left behind when they went to war.

All ten have been digitally enhanced and framed and will be sold to help fund their project, which could create up to 30 jobs.

They hope families of former prisoners will want to visit the camp and have plans for almost all of the 50 huts.

Mr McLeod said: "The craftsmanship that went into building the huts was brilliant and we want to keep the same quality. They have even painted curtains at some of the windows.

"You can sense the care with which the prisoners must have looked after the place.

"We want to look back in 20 years' time and say we created something worthwhile."

The McLeods are applying to Wear Valley District Council for planning permission for the attraction.

They are appealing for information on the camp, and can be contacted on (01388) 767098.

To find out about the prints, telephone Print House Direct on (01388) 835599.