Slovakian technology has been on show in a North-East forest.

A team from Slovakia staged a demonstration in Hamsterley Forest, County Durham, to show landowners from across the region an environmentally-friendly way to extract timber from steep slopes.

The event was organised by Northwoods, an organisation which promotes forestry in the region.

Martin Clark, of the company Clark MacTavish, which runs Northwoods, said the British Council had given a grant to bring the Slovaks to Britain to demonstrate their equipment in the hope of receiving the go-ahead for use throughout the EU.

The machine uses a network of cables attached to trees and a stationary motor to move logs down from steep hillsides which are not accessible to standard machines or even horses.

Mr Clark said his company had been working with the EU to find appropriate technology.

Miroslav Knezo, leader of the Slovak team, said: "As we go through forest we don't damage small trees and plants. Our machine has a lot of advantages because we can work in very inaccessible forest terrain."

He said they had completed a demonstration in Borrowdale, Cumbria, where the National Trust could find no one else prepared to do the work.

To work within the EU, the machine needs a designation which the North-East trials should help the team achieve.