IMAGES of farmers burning the fleeces of Herdwick sheep appear to be a thing of the past thanks to the burgeoning business in carpets made from the famous breed's wool.

The National Trust has teamed up with Kendal-based carpet-makers Goodacre to turn Herdwick wool into fashionable carpet.

Under the scheme, the trust has bought 85,000 Herdwick fleeces from the 130 farmers involved at a guaranteed price of 50 pence per kilo in recent years prices for Herdwick wool have fallen as low as 2p/per kilo prompting farmers to burn the fleeces from their flocks.

David Townsend, National Trust Herdwick project officer, said: "We have now purchased our first batch of wool at auction which ensures that farmers in the Lake District are getting a reasonable price for the wool for the first time in many years."

Goodacre director David Poole said the Naturally Herdwick range had done well in difficult market conditions created by hot weather this year and was confident that the range would flourish after the company developed new ways to lighten the darkish wool of the Herdwick to create three new paler colours for 2004. He also said Goodacre was working with the British Wool Marketing Board on plans to tap into the Japanese market with the Herdwick carpets.

"We will use 40 to 50,000 kilos of Herdwick wool in 2004," said Mr Poole, "This is a good story, it's Lake District wool from a Lake District sheep made into carpet by a Lake District manufacturer."

There are now 550 companies licensed to sell Naturally Herdwick carpets throughout the UK. The owners of David Marks Carpets at Taunton, Devon, won a Lake District National Trust holiday for being the top selling company in the country.