VISITORS flocked to a North-East dale for a festival which featured some of the finest mineral specimens in the country.

The first Weardale Festival celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Friends of Killhope's annual Grand Mineralogical Exhibition on Saturday and Sunday.

The festival was held simultaneously at Killhope, the North of England Lead Mining Museum, Ires-hopeburn Institute, and Weardale Museum, all County Durham.

Maureen Murray, visitor services officer at Killhope, said the event had attracted visitors from around the country.

She said it had been very well attended, especially considering the latest foot-and-mouth exclusion zone borders the museum.

She said: "Visitors have come from far and wide because we have had some world-class minerals. We are gaining a reputation in the mineral world and the specimens are so good they would not look out of place in a national collection. They are fantastic and very rare."

A feature of the festival was free vintage bus transport, provided by Newton Aycliffe and District Bus Preservation Society, so visitors could visit all three venues. The bus features regularly in popular television series Heartbeat.

Mrs Murray said: "The bus went down very well. It's not just been used by visitors from afar, but by locals as well and it's been lovely to see them."

The mineral exhibition also incorporated a competition, judged by expert Brian Young of the British Geological Survey.

Joint first place went to Trevor Bridges, of Tynedale, and Dave Barker, of South Yorkshire, with Helen Wilkinson and Barry Smith, both from Weardale, finishing joint third.