GROWING up on the family farm in one of the most beautiful areas of the country, Paul Anderson's future was mapped out.

With a choice of safe jobs right on their doorstep, when they left school 20 years ago he and his friends never dreamed that their isolated County Durham valley of Weardale would ever offer them anything else but a secure and stable place to live.

Now, with more than 200 of those jobs gone in a few traumatic months, Paul, 36, has unexpectedly become one of the North-East's newest entrepreneurs.

He has turned his hobby into a business and struck out on his own because that was the only way he could keep on living the rural life he loves.

Sensibly, Paul, a former British Quad Bike Champion, set the wheels in motion to start his new company soon after he learned in January that his job at Lafarge's Blue Circle cement plant, in Eastgate, would go in August.

He took the advice of business experts and based his new venture on his hobby, using his mechanical skills and knowledge of the quad bike world.

Anderson ATV, based on the Wolsingham Industrial Estate, sells and service bikes, which are increasingly in demand by farmers and racers.

Its main asset is Paul himself, although he has plenty of support from his partner, Dawn Richardson, with practical help and advice from the County Durham Development Company (CDDC) and Wear Valley Development Agency.

He said: "I've seen foot-and-mouth hit the farms, including my family's, and now job losses at Eastgate and Wolsingham Steel. Life has to change in the dale and we have no choice. We've lost well-paid jobs and prosperity.

"Young people are leaving because they can't see a future. You can tell by the social life. The pubs are quiet and there's not much going on.

"But it's still an attractive place to live and Dawn and I had to sit down and decide what we had to do if we wanted to stay on here.

"There have been grants and advice but it all seemed to happen slowly and there were times when I felt like giving up.

"In the end it was down to me to take the risk.

"I felt I needed to take a positive view of the future and make use of the skills I had."

Stewart Watkins, executive director at CDDC, said: "We are closely involved in the Weardale Task Force that was established in response to Lafarge's announcement and this kind of entrepreneurship is central to the economic regeneration of the more rural areas of County Durham."