A HORSE-DRAWN milk float featured in the first series of All Creatures Great and Small has been fully restored by Max Hardcastle of Harmby.

During filming, the shaft on the float broke. It was then left in a field just outside Leyburn for 20 years.

"The nettles were so high you couldn't see it," said Mr Hardcastle. "All the woodwork had rotted away but the ironwork was good."

It has taken many months to restore it and he and his wife, Sandra, are grateful to Lanie Tomlinson for sponsoring the work.

She runs the Wensleydale Ice Cream Company in Leyburn.

"I thought a milk float and ice cream - they go together. So I walked into Mrs Tomlinson's shop and asked her," said Mrs Hardcastle.

Mrs Tomlinson is delighted with the result and is looking forward to seeing the float at Wensleydale Agricultural Show in August and the Dales Pony Show at Barnard Castle.

The float will be pulled by Lucky, Mr Hardcastle's Dales pony. He believes that the carriage was probably built in the 1930s and might have been known as an Onslow delivery float because of its wheels and tapered roller-bearing hubs. He has tried to restore it to its original condition.

For many years Mr Hardcastle ran an antiques shop in Leyburn. Now retired, he enjoys running his smallholding with his wife in Harmby and restoring horse-drawn vehicles. He has also restored a baker's cart and a Burton van.