A FAMILY which took the top three prizes in a pie-making contest is now running a successful business on the strength of it.

Mr Kevin Buckle and his wife, Rachel, entered the competition at the Cross Keys pub in Eastgate last summer with pies produced by Kevin's mother, Margaret, at the family home, Buckle's Farm, Barras, about 15 miles from Barnard Castle.

Mrs Buckle snr, who has a good reputation for her baking, cooked the family sized pies - one pork with pickle and two pork - which beat entries from 80 other competitors. It set the family thinking they could begin to produce them commercially, selling them alongside meat produced on the farm.

The Buckles began by selling the pies for Christmas, taking the Cross Keys trophy with them to display on their stall, but they were such good sellers that they began to bake them all year round.

As the business, named Buckles Farm, began to take off, other family members became involved. The pies are now baked by the two Mrs Buckles and an aunt, Mrs Alice Dennison. As well as pork, they make minced beef pies, using all home-bred meat.

Mr Wilf Buckle, Kevin's brother, rears the pigs and helps with cutting up the meat.

The Buckles now attend farmers' markets all over the North-East and Cumbria, travelling as far as Chester-le-Street and Maryport to sell upwards of 100 pies at a time.

Mrs Buckle jnr said they had had a lot of encouragement to diversify and were lucky to live in an area with access to Objective 5b funding. Grants available meant they could convert an outbuilding for preparing and storing meat.

"We have a large walk-in chiller which keeps it at the correct temperature," she said. "All our meat is naturally reared and there is no intensive farming. Pies are baked the day before a market and are never frozen."

They would like to attend their local farmers' market in Barnard Castle but cannot secure a place, because of the high demand for stalls.

Mrs Buckle thinks farmers' markets are here to stay, saying the best feedback is when customers return week after week to buy their produce, but she also thinks producers should have a short contract with the market organisers to allow them a regular pitch.

"It is a shame when people get used to you being around and come to buy your goods, only to find you're not there and they don't know why," she said.

The Buckles, who have 1,000 sheep, about 60 sucklers and a small dairy herd as well as the pigs, also sell a range of sausages including pork, pear and cider and gluten free, along with other cuts of meat.

They have embraced diversification and now have a web site at www.bucklesfarm.com at which they hope to introduce an on-line shopping basket soon.

Although the farm is still the priority, as without the stock they would have nothing to sell, the pie-making venture has developed from a sideline into a major part of the family income.

"We are getting better value for our stock by selling it ourselves and cutting out the middle man," said Mrs Buckle. "It is harder work but there is more satisfaction."

The new business was filmed on Tuesday for a CD-rom, produced by MAFF and the DTI to encourage others to apply for grants.

Will they have time to enter the pie-making contest again this year? "Yes," said Mrs Buckle. "We have something up our sleeve to give an element of surprise, although taste is the most important thing of all."