A NEW home has been found for a long-lasting agricultural show left without a permanent venue in recent years.

Organisers of the Durham County Show have announced that a reclaimed colliery site in the shadow of the Penshaw Monument will provide the setting for this year's event.

It is hoped the 370-acre Herrington Country Park, on Wearside, will prove a suitable venue for the annual event which dates from 1841.

The show, staged by the Durham County Agricultural Society, was held at Lambton Park, near Chester-le-Street, for 47 years up to 1999.

But early in 2000, Lambton Estates informed the society that the showground would no longer be available as it was earmarked for other uses.

Sunderland City Council stepped in at short notice and offered the society use of the Northern Area Playing Fields, in Washington, for the show of July 2000.

The site would also have provided the setting for last year's event, which had to be cancelled due to foot-and-mouth.

Now the recently completed multi-million pound reclamation scheme on the former Herrington Colliery site has provided what the society hopes will become the regular show setting.

This year's show, on the weekend of July 13 and 14, will mark the opening of the country park.

Keith Hamilton, Sunderland City Council's landscape and reclamation manager, said: "Hosting the Durham County Show is the perfect way to introduce people to Herrington Country Park.

"It's a site which we hope will be enjoyed by families in the area for generations to come.

"The excellent facilities and environment being created at the park will provide an ideal home for the county show, which has proved a popular annual event in the North-East for more than a century."

Show secretary Christine Duke said: "There is something for everybody, from trade stands to the shows, from the horses and ponies to the dogs, cats and other pets being displayed in competition."

To help out during the show weekend contact the society, at PO Box 58, Chester-le-Street, DH3 3GB.