WHEN Isabel Dixon's husband, Len, wants to mark the page in his current reading matter, he uses an old envelope to keep his place.Nothing unusual in that you might think, until you learn that his wife has a collection of more than 400 bookmarks, spanning 30 years.

The retired couple, who have lived in Barnard Castle for the past four years, formerly farmed at Scargill, where their landlady sparked Mrs Dixon's interest by making her a present of two bookmarks in 1972.

Although they were the first of the 400, she did not think about starting a collection proper until a couple of years later when presented with another by her daughter, Hilary, then eight, who made it to gain her brownie book lovers' badge.

"Since then it has snowballed and I and my family and friends bring them from all over the world," said Mrs Dixon, who now houses her prized specimens in a set of transparent files rather than the two shoeboxes she used to keep them in.

Now a victim of multiple sclerosis she is unable to travel as much as she used to, and so derives great pleasure from going through the albums and recalling the many places she and her husband have visited.

"They are like photographs or postcards, in that they do bring a lot of memories back of the wonderful people we met and places we visited," she added.

Mrs Dixon has many unusually-shaped samples picked up on a visit to family in Canada, some made from Canadian deerskin. One is made by the community of St Jacob's, nearly all Menorites, who live a traditional lifestyle without cars and the trappings of modern society, using horses and buggies to get around.

Bookmarks commemorating various historical events make up part of her collection and she has one from 1981 marking the marriage of Prince Charles with Lady Diana Spencer, showing their initials intertwined with Prince of Wales feathers. Sticking with royalty, she also has one marking the Queen's silver jubilee and her 40th anniversary, as well as the marriage of Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson in 1986.

But perhaps her most unusual royal bookmark is one given to her by her friend, Morag McPhee, who lives at Eggleston.

A retired nurse, Mrs McPhee was a matron at Gordstonstoun, the boys' school in Scotland, when Prince Charles was a pupil there. She was a guest when Charles was invested as Prince of Wales, a ceremony which took place at Caernarfon Castle on July 1, 1969, and she has passed the bookmark commemorating the day on to Mrs Dixon.

There are specimens marking many famous landmarks - such as the House of Lords and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and one from the ill-fated Millennium Dome - and stately homes including one made of lace from Hampton Court Palace.

One of the more sobering items in the collection is from the infamous Alcatraz Prison, a penal colony on an island off the coast of San Francisco. Opened in 1934, it closed in 1963, and Mrs Dixon's bookmark recalls those dates and the prison regulations, which briefly state: "You are entitled to food, clothing, shelter and medical attention. Anything else you get is a privilege."

From her own travels, she has bookmarks from Iceland, and from her daughter's travels has one from the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore and, more recently, from the Australian School of the Air in Alice Springs. This marks the world's largest classroom, broadcasting to 1,300,000 sq km.

Nearer to home is another commemorating the 90th anniversary, in 1993, of Corporation Road Infants' School in Darlington, where another friend, Mary Lowes, was a former teacher.

"There are so many stories, and so many happy memories," said Mrs Dixon, as she picked out some more favourites from the Channel Island of Sark.

"I remember going into a tiny chapel there while we were on holiday and as there was no-one else around I sat down and began to play the organ," she said. "And I when I finally looked up, the place was full.

"I was quite embarrassed to be caught out, but they asked me to carry on because they were enjoying it, but I still don't know where they all came from," she added.

Another in her collection which evokes memories is one bearing the inscription on author Anne Bront's grave. Taken from The Narrow Way, it reads: "To labour and to love, to pardon and endure. To lift thy heart, to God above, and keep thy conscience pure."

But although her collection exceeds 400, she does not put any of them to practical use.

"All these in the house and I have to root around for an old envelope or whatever else I can find," joked Mr Dixon