A NEW £75,000 cafe and meeting room at Middleton-in-Teesdale Auction Mart, opened today (Tuesday, October 23) by Prince Charles, have already proved their worth.

Alan Scott, chairman of the directors, said the new facilities had already hosted mart board meetings, groups from a local outward bound centre and social functions.

Mr Scott said work had been completed in good time.

“We are very pleased with how it's gone. The builders have done a good job to get it completed in the short time we had available.”

He added: “The old building was out of date and we did not have a decent meeting room, so these new facilities can be used for the good of the village as well as ourselves.

“It is much more than simply a place to come for a cup of tea.”

Mr Scott said offering the facilities for community use was an important part of the project.

“For the number of sales we have over the year, it would not otherwise have been worthwhile,” he said.

As well as unveiling a plaque to officially open the new cafe and meeting room, Prince Charles toured some of the mart's pens and chatted to local sheep farmers.

Among those he met was Malcolm Dent who works Wythes Hill Farm, in Lunedale, and who showed the prince a ram and lambs.

“He was very easy to talk to and just wanted to know all about them. He has quite an understanding of farming,” he said.

In his role as patron of the Campaign for Wool – a project which aims to address the plummeting price and demand for wool - the prince then joined a number of sheep farmers for a private meeting.