THE future of a show farm is uncertain after it fell victim to the epidemic.

More than 1,400 sheep were slaughtered at Hall Hill Farm, near Lanchester, County Durham, last month, along with three llamas and three deer, after foot-and-mouth was confirmed.

At the time, director of the visitor centre Ann Darlington said she was certain that she would be able to reopen the farm, which attracts about 50,000 visitors a year.

However, as the financial costs of the cull have begun to be realised, Mrs Darlington has admitted that the future of the farm is now uncertain.

She has been overwhelmed after about 75 people wrote to her to express their sympathy for her plight.

One letter that she received came from a nine-year-old girl called Sarah, from County Durham, who asked if she could send her pocket money to pay for her favourite cow, Daisy, to be vaccinated.

Mother-of-two Mrs Darlington, who was in tears as she read the letter, said she had not been able to tell the youngster that Daisy had already been culled.

Mrs Darlington has built up the centre at the farm from attracting fewer than 1,000 visitors in 1981 when her father, Jack Gibson, opened it, to a major tourist attraction.

She had hoped it could reopen at some point in the summer, but now she is making calculations to see if it is financially viable to reopen the farm at all.

She said: "It came at exactly the worst moment for us.

"We had just reinvested profits ahead of the new season. We still hope to reopen - but it is certainly not definite."

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