A FARM visitor centre is fighting back from the brink of disaster for a second time.

The Slater family saw their first business ruined over-night by Edwina Currie's comments about salmonella and eggs. They changed direction - only to be severely hit by the effects of the foot-and-mouth crisis.

The Whitehouse Farm Centre, near Stannington, Morpeth, last year lost an estimated £100,000-worth of business and had to lay-off 13 staff for three months.

But on Monday, it was one of ten centres selected nationally to demonstrate how farm visits could be particularly useful for schools in meeting the needs of the national curriculum.

Keith Slater and his wife, Sheila, started farming at Whitehouse in the mid-60s. The farm has only 40 acres but they built up a highly successful egg business which eventually numbered 80,000 of their own laying hens rising to 250,000 through packing eggs from other sources.

"Then Edwina Currie came along and shot the bottom out of our canoe," said Donald Slater, the couple's son.

The family sat down and had to decide what to do.

They decided to convert some farm buildings into rural workshops which, in the early 90s, was an unusual step but one which has proved tremendously successful.

The farm also had a few sheep on ten acres of land and Mrs Slater suggested they should open the farm to the public. "We looked around the country at some other places and realised just how divorced town and country people were," said Donald Slater.

"A lot of urban children still think milk comes in bottles and eggs are from boxes in supermarkets." Mr Slater vividly recalls the shock on the faces of a party of schoolchildren who could not believe an egg lying in the grass had been laid by a hen - they had only seen them in boxes on supermarket shelves.

The farm opened its doors five years ago without any grant aid. Today the well planned buildings contain displays and small animals and birds.

In the first year they received 30,000 visitors and by year three the number grew to 80,000.

Visitors travel from everywhere between Teesside and Berwick while schools mainly visit from the South Tyne Valley, Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland and Northumberland.

Year four looked certain to beat the previous high, but on February 19 last year foot-and-mouth was found, and was quickly traced back to a farm at Heddon-on-the-Wall.

"It was half-term and we had seen 3,000 visitors that week," said Donald Slater, who will never forget the horror of hearing FMD had been traced back to Northumberland.

"At the time no-one seemed to know how it spread, there were all sorts of stories and all we could think was that 3,000 people had been to the farm.

"We just closed the gates and lived in a state of terror for three weeks, running around with disinfectant, not knowing what else to do."

With a distinct lack of communication from Ministry officials, the Slaters were trapped, waiting to see what, if anything, would develop.

They laid-off 13 staff, saw their income dry up - and sat helplessly watching the disease draw ever closer, finally hitting a farm just half a mile away. The stench from the pyres blew over the farm but, miraculously, the Slater's animals escaped, and three months later they decided to re-open to the public.

They explained to Ministry officials that their visitors tended to be from urban areas and re-opened on May 19.

"We built and installed our own automatic vehicle sprayer and had disinfectant for visitors to step in. People came and they were quite happy to go through the disinfectant procedures."

"It was undoubtedly the hardest year we have ever experienced but people are returning to the countryside now and we are making a big push in the run up to Easter," said Mr Slater.

On Monday two schools were at the centre to see the animals. The large livestock include Longhorn and Highland cattle along with modern breeds, sheep, goats, pigs, two llamas and four ponies.

There are also guinea pigs all manner of ducks, poultry and birds, and there is a large caf, seating for children to do work, a shop, play area and many more attractions.

The farm centre was chosen as a shining example of how farms could be ideal for schools to meet national curriculum standards and requirements.

Chris Philpot, chairman of the National Association of Farms for Schools, said: "Open farms give teachers a new and fun way of helping children get excited about learning while meeting the demands of the national curriculum."

The policy commission on the future of farming and food, chaired by Northumberland farmer Sir Donald Curry, recognised the important role farms could play in education and recommended schoolchildren should have the chance to visit a working farm at least once.

Whitehouse Farm Centre is sign-posted from the Morpeth turn off on the A1.