VINTAGE tractor fans will visit the region this weekend for the country’s biggest road run.

More than 250 tractors from as long ago as the Thirties will be on display as the National Vintage Tractor Road Run comes to County Durham.

The vehicles will follow a 25- mile route around villages west of Durham on Sunday, as well as being parked for public viewing all day tomorrow and and on Sunday.

For organiser Brian Watson, the event is the culmination of two years of planning.

He said: “I have a farming upbringing and I think vintage tractors need preserving.

“If people do not take an interest in this old iron, it will end up in the scrapyard.”

This weekend, the vehicles will be parked at Ushaw College, a Catholic seminary near Ushaw Moor.

The road run will leave the college at 9.30am on Sunday, taking in Witton Gilbert, Burnhope, Maiden Law, Lanchester, Esh Village, Quebec, Cornsay Colliery, New Brancepeth and Esh Winning, as well as some field driving.

The tractors are expected to return to the college by about 2.30pm.

The road run will raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society and Epilepsy Action.

Twelve years ago, Mr Watson’s son Bryan, 23, died after an epileptic fit.

Admission to the grounds of the college will be free. Donations will be welcome.