THERE was delight all round at the primary school in Middleton-in-Teesdale this week, and rightly so, after it beat many other schools to win a trophy for the best outdoor classroom in the Northumbria in Bloom contest.

Its colourful garden, started by former headteacher Michael Harris and now run by teaching assistant Glenda Calvert, looks excellent, but its true role is to teach the pupils about the five senses.

Mrs Calvert explained to me that many plants, including lavender, had been chosen for their aromas. Vegetables and fruit are grown, so they can be tasted.

Other plants and small sculptures have been selected to highlight the sense of touch.

A number of water features are included, along with various path materials, to create different sounds. The garden also has a number of seasonal changes.

The plot is intended mainly for the younger children, but older pupils use it for art and science lessons. Mrs Calvert runs a weekly garden club and its young members will soon be picking and eating cabbages, cauliflowers and broad beans. Then they'll be making jam with their raspberries and blackberries. The lessons sound extremely useful and interesting.

Anyone who saw Peggy Addison's tempting cakes, buns and other produce at Bowes Show on Saturday will not be surprised that she went home to Stoney Keld with three trophies and a stack of prize cards, just as she has done so often in the past 50 years.

How did she become such an expert in the kitchen? "I just picked it up from helping my mother at home from a young age," she said. "It's the way it was in farming families. You made all your own bread and teacakes in those days."

Her mother, Ethel Alderson, must have been a good teacher because Mrs Addison has won so many cups and prizes that she lost count years ago. "I've always entered to help the show out, I did so because I enjoyed it. Some years I didn't win much, but that didn't matter. When I did win, it was a bonus."

She has also undertaken a variety of tasks for the show, including a stint as secretary.

She won this year for her marmalade and beetroot, as well as bread, rice cake, fruit cake, shortcake and butterfly buns.

One trophy was for a cross-stitch picture of birds.

What happens to all the exhibits afterwards? She and her husband, Dick, eat a few, but others are shared among her family, who lived locally.

Last week, we spoke to Ken Peacock, who had recently bumped into a land girl he had not seen for 65 years. This week, he talks about his memories of his haymaking at Holwick in 1940.

As a ten-year-old evacuee, from Middlesbrough, he said he felt more of a hindrance than help to a team of workers.

He was fascinated as he watched the men raking, stacking, carting and forking hay to a man who was building a haystack. As refreshments arrived, two tired horses were tethered and given bags of oats. The men were handed mugs of tea sandwiches and scones.

Mr Peacock said: "The sun shone down on a scene which I - a boy from a smoky, grimy, smelly town - would remember all my life. My memory of this time, when I met some wonderful people, who I'm still in contact with, is always revived when I eat a fruit scone. But, they are never as good as on that haymaking day."

Following a mention in this column about Stan Walinets' book on a village's history, A Hundred Mickleton Years, there is now hope that more copies will soon be available.

The first edition, printed in 1994, and two reprints have also sold out. But Mr Walinets tells me he hopes another run will be ordered soon by Mickleton Village Hall Association, the publishers and recipients of the proceeds from the sales. It is the sort of book that will be in demand for decades to come, as it is popular with dale residents and tourists.

* I'll be glad to see anyone who calls with snippets of news at The Northern Echo office at 36 Horsemarket, Barnard Castle, on Mondays and Tuesdays, telephone (01833) 638628.