A RARE breed of turkey, reintroduced to Britain in recent years, is becoming a regular seasonal part of the scenery at a County Durham farm.

Judith and Martin Dryden first took a batch of newly-born KellyBronze turkeys to rear at Murton Moor Farm in 1999.

As free-range turkeys, the black and red birds are given the run of the farmstead, within electric fences which keep out predators, without harming the inhabitants.

By day they feed outside, acting as waddling lawnmowers, but by night they sleep in a barn.

The result of the "healthy upbringing" and drug-free feeding is a tasty textured meat which is growing in popularity among families seeking an alternative to battery-reared frozen turkeys at Christmas.

Such has been the success that the Drydens have taken on extra birds and this Christmas expect to sell all 350 of this year's intake.

A processing house is being built at the farm, between Murton and Hetton-le-Hole, to cope with the expansion in numbers, and a further anticipated increase.

The turkeys, reared from a day old in July, will soon be ending their happy, but relatively brief existence at Murton Moor.

Their popularity has earned a celebrity endorsement from one of the nation's favourite tv chefs, Rick Stein, who recommends them in his latest cookery book.