COUNTRY crafts and skills were on display as two prestigious rural contests came to a North-East museum.

The annual County Durham Hedgelaying and Dry Stone Walling championships and Beamish Ploughing Match were both held at Beamish Museum, near Stanley, County Durham, on Sunday.

The former received a record number of entries this year and saw the launch of Durham Hedgerow Partnership’s Field Boundary Restoration Awards, to recognise high quality hedgelaying and dry stone walling of benefit to farming, wildlife and the landscape.

Sue Millinger, chair of Durham Hedgerow Partnership, said: "Hedgerows and dry stone walls are traditional features of County Durham and help to stitch together the fields to form this famous landscape.

"The boundaries are central to the distinctiveness of the area but unfortunately are now deteriorating.

"These new awards recognise the skills of the craftsmen who work to preserve and repair the county’s hedges and walls in the working landscape."

The Beamish Ploughing Match pitched seven teams of heavy horses and ploughmen against each other in two classes: high cut and general purpose.

After the prize giving, a sheaf throwing contest, a favourite of many agricultural and country fairs, was held. Vintage tractors and a visiting steam engine were also on display.