It may be "three miles from anywhere" but Andy Norman hopes to attract thousands to a music festival on his farm. He talks to Viv Hardwick.

THIMBLEBY Hill Farm, located "three miles from anywhere... County Durham", normally boasts just one music-mad farmer and 120 sheep.

But next weekend, Andy Norman expects a few thousand fans to track down his remote hilltop location near Stanhope, negotiating a ford and a frighteningly steep hill, for just over two days of every type of popular music which draws a crowd.

Jazz, blues, reggae, rock and ska, and even the house, disco and dance music he dislikes will be playing at full blast in a series of stages and marquees across the scarred landscape, which currently plays hosts to regular motocross weekends.

One of the oddities to emerge from interviewing 6ft 3ins Norman on his 58-acre farm is that he's a man of few doubts.

"People will find us, they'll come. This is the third year we've held the festival, although the first two were really practices to see if we could do it," says the bearded Norman, who wanders his fields minus laces in his boots.

"I once told a guy in a pub that they take the laces away from people who are put in the cells overnight and he didn't want to talk to me after that," jokes the farmer, who originates from Gloucestershire but fell in love with the North Pennines after relocating to Boroughbridge through his job. He explains: "When I looked around the land and said I wanted to buy it, the woman who owned the place said 'Don't you want to look around the farmhouse?', but the house wasn't that relevant to be honest."

Norman was actually pleased that one half of the two homes built back in 1797 is minus a first floor because he couldn't have entered without bending double. This slightly derelict half of his homestead will boast the Electric Fish Caf and serve food and drink to the hundreds he hopes will want to hear the best musicians from the North-East and North-West of England.

"There just aren't festivals like this around here. Glastonbury and places like Leeds used to have the pioneering spirit but now it's all commercialised and standardised, and independent traders have been squeezed out. That's why I'm inviting them here. I never want to become like Glastonbury," he explains.

Around 30 bands are anxious to play at the festival. Most only have local followings but there are rumours that Newcastle's well-known name the Baghdaddies will be lining up alongside Stanhope's own ice cream delivery man Mr Whippy, who performs the odd Beatles number.

Norman believes that Thimbleby originated as a Viking settlement to "control" the approaches to Stanhope. Controls this time will have to include some soundproof fencing just to ensure that his nearest neighbours only share the music of their choice.

He's invested £10,000 for staging, lighting, a main stage backline to reduce band changeover time and a PA system from MTA of Darlington.

Not far from the house, Norman's good mate Pod - "I only know him as Pod" - is busy erecting the Yippee Tent, where jamming sessions and acoustic displays will rule and a few lifelong friendships between festival-goers are expected to flourish.

To keep the children happy, there will be Scottish entertainers Wonky Donky plus a supervised play area.

For those a little more adventurous, Norman plans to site a revolving door in the centre of a field and create a sheep sculpture which may video festival-goers as they pass or emit the odd moo.

"This is all about having fun," responds the farmer to a slightly quizzical look on his interviewer's face, "but you can tell the festival-goers that the sheep are all mine."

* The three-day event costs £10, with space set aside for camping. Children under 12 are allowed in free as long as they are supervised. Ring 07792 192006 for details.