RURAL Britain took over central London on Sunday in the biggest invasion of its kind ever seen

The Countryside Alliance's Liberty and Livelihood rural rights march was described as the biggest protest of any kind in the UK after at least 400,000 demonstrators converged on the capital.

More than 25,000 people from the North-East and North Yorkshire crammed on to specially chartered trains and buses to take them to the capital.

Many were there to protest about the proposed ban on hunting with dogs, which they say will lead to thousands of job losses and have a severe knock-on effect on the rural economy. Others were there to register their dissatisfaction on wider rural issues.

Banners from Sedgefield, Middlesbrough, Durham and Stockton were prominent amid the seething mass.

Gary Watchman, from Sedgefield, a member of the South Durham Hunt, based in Wingate, close to Prime Minister Tony Blair's constituency home, said: "It's gone tremendously well and the support has just been overwhelming."

There were several members of the hunt, which refers to itself as 'Tony Blair's Hunt', on the march.

Mr Watchman said: "There's a lot more people here than I was expecting and the atmosphere has been tremendous. There's even been support from people who don't hunt, but feel very strongly about the way the countryside has been treated by the Government."

Like the three hound puppies who arrived at her riding school this week for 'walking', Margaret Hedley's links with hunting and farming go back generations. A hunting ban would mean a death sentence for them and thousands of hounds from packs across the country.

Margaret, of Low Fold Farm, near Willington, who until recently was joint master of the Braes of Derwent Hunt, said: "I can't stand by and watch the erosion of the countryside. We're losing a whole way of life. We work hard to get a living off the land but they're turning it into a theme park.

"A lot of older farmers gave up after foot-and-mouth and a whole wealth of wisdom and experience is being lost. I feel that I and my whole way of life are being sacrificed as a sop to pacify New Labour Blairites who don't know a thing about the countryside.

"It isn't about cruelty, its about toff bashing. They don't understand that we are ordinary, hard working people.

"The old labour politicians supported hunting and understood country people. We need all the help we can get to recover from foot-and-mouth but politicians don't give a damn about what happens in the countryside."

John Jackson, national chairman of the Countryside Alliance, said: "If the Government makes the mistake of doing something unjust, I have no doubt that the countryside will erupt in fury. There is a simmering anger out there."

Farmers say prices for their produce has plummeted in recent years, while costs have rocketed. There were also protests at rocketing rural house prices, crime, poor public transport, and the loss of local amenities such as schools, pubs and shops.

Mr Jackson delivered a 10-point letter to the Government - headed What The Countryside Needs - with a range of demands from an assessment of supermarket practices, to equality in healthcare and education and the rolling out of broadband internet access into rural areas. The scale of the demonstration surpassed anything that organisers had predicted and those taking part succeeded in leaving the Government in no doubt as to their concern, frustration and anger.

Although peaceful, the march was deafening. Shouts, whoops and whistles pierced the streets at regular intervals as thousands spontaneously raised their voices at the sight of fellow supporters appearing along the route.

A number of bands played, while the whole remarkable event was relayed live on five giant screens along the route.

Sheer numbers meant that people were forced to queue for more than two hours before they could arrive at the march starting points, at Hyde Park Corner and Blackfriars Bridge, to head for Parliament Square. Not just farmers and hunters, but everyone from solicitors, doctors and housewives descended on London - not people normally moved to take to the streets.

At the end of a tiring day, protestors clambered back on to their trains and buses confident that they had made their point.

The alliance now plans to hold a conference within the next 40 days with a view to setting up a rural council on a par with the TUC and CBI representing the 'whole of the countryside'. The hope is that ministers will listen to the many voices which took part in the march, and organisers will now be looking for positive action from the Government to ensure there will be no need for a repeat of such a spectacular show of people power.