BUTCHERS Keith Ball and Barry Kirby are celebrating after striking gold six times.

And judges were so impressed with their pork, honey and mustard sausage that it was awarded a maximum 100 points and crowned overall champion.

The pair work for Andrew and Marie Henshaw's Mainsgill Farm Shop, on the A66 Scotch Corner to Penrith road, in North Yorkshire.

They competed against more than 40 butchers in the North-East round of the British Pig Executive (Bpex) awards at Askham Bryan College, near York, recently. Now their overall speciality pork sausage will go to the national finals later this year.

Mr Henshaw said: "We were thrilled, they really cleaned up. No one won as many awards as they did."

Mr Kirby admitted to being "chuffed to bits" and Mr Ball was particularly pleased to score the maximum.

The other gold winning sausages were spicy lamb, Cumberland, and beef and horseradish. Mainsgill's dry cured bacon also won its third gold in a year - two BPEX awards and a national Great Taste Award.