A TEESDALE farm has been confirmed as one of three prize- winners in this year's coveted Silver Lapwing award.

Now Maurice and Kath Toward are waiting to see if they have won the actual title and £1,000, or the £500 or £250 runners-up prizes. That will be announced at the award ceremony in London on November 25, when the Princess Royal will present the prizes.

"We are quite overwhelmed, we never expected to get this far," said Mr Toward, who has farmed Herdship Farm at Harwood since 1967. "I see it as a welcome recognition of the valuable conservation work being done by many hill farmers."

The Silver Lapwing, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, is the UK's most respected farm conservation award and is given annually to the farmer who has done most to enrich wildlife and the countryside on a commercially-run farm. It is organised by the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group and sponsored by Farmcare, part of the Co-operative Group.

Congratulating Mr and Mrs Toward on their success, James Money-Kyrle, chief executive of FWAG, said: "There is no doubt that the future of farming in the UK depends on combining profitability with a sensitive and imaginative contribution to the environment.

"Herdship Farm is an outstanding example of what can be achieved with passion, insight and careful planning."

The 574-acre farm has 400 breeding ewes and 125 followers, plus a small herd of Limousin X cows. It stands in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with much of it a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its species-rich grassland, with such rare plants as globe flower, melancholy thistle, cuckoo flower and the very rare Teesdale gentian. Its upland birds include black grouse, lapwing, snipe, redshank and yellow wagtail.

The couple see the farm's rugged landscape and environment as its biggest asset and joined the environmentally sensitive area scheme when it was introduced 15 years ago. They work in partnership with English Nature and the RSPB, which uses it to show how wildlife can benefit through partnership.

Visitors and tourists are welcomed on specially organised farm walks which use leaflets and interpretation boards.

"For Maurice, the biggest pleasure over the years has been in the development of the bird population which he is passionate about," said Mrs Toward. "For me, it is the reaction we get from visitors to the farm on our many open days. Seeing things at first hand really alters their perception of farming - I think that many people find it difficult to make any connection between the food they eat and the farm where it is produced.

"To me, there is no point in doing conservation work and keeping it hidden. I am all for opening up public access providing it is well managed - and it can be a source of rural employment."

She accepts that a few farmers are reluctant conservationists but believes the future lies in a balance between the two. "It has been the key to our family being able to stay here in Teesdale," she said.

"We will never compete in production terms with farms in the Vale of York, but we have a unique high environment landscape which lends itself to diversification schemes.

"Continued farming is essential here - for example, without grazing by sheep, many of the wild flowers simply wouldn't flourish.