Retired vet Neville Turner has published a new book celebrating the Border Collie. Richard Davies spoke to him about the farmer's best friend

WHEN Neville Turner began working as a vet in the late 1960s, it was, he says, “still like James Herriot”.

“I loved that – flying by the seat of your pants, working 18 hours a day, every other night and every other weekend. It was total commitment and, looking back, it was wonderful. I used to get excited about going to work every morning.

“No high-tech stuff – you just got on with the job. There was something nice about that time.”

Neville was born in Crook, went to Wolsingham Grammar School and then on to Edinburgh University. After graduating, he spent a year in Weardale and then worked in Somerset for four years “to see what the other end of the country was like”.

“Then I saw a job advertised in Barnard Castle and I thought, ‘Wow’. I got the job. It was Harris and Harris in those days. It later became Harris, Turner and Peat and now it’s Castle Vets. It grew from three vets to a 14-vet practice – one of the biggest in the North.

“It changed, which it had to do. Everyone was getting more specialised. From being three James Herriots in 1973, we evolved almost without realising it into three departments – horses, dogs, cats and small animals – and I ended up doing 100 per cent farm work.

“I joined the practice in 1973 and retired at the millennium. It was early but there were so many things I wanted to do and didn’t have time for.”

Neville has just had his second book published, but although he started work in the world of All Creatures Great and Small, he says: “I’m no James Herriot. My books are picture books.

“When I came to Barney, the James Herriot books were enjoying immense popularity, so everyone imagined that all vets were gifted raconteurs. You got invitations to talk to WIs, Rotary clubs and Young Farmers’ Clubs. I enjoyed doing them, but I found it much easier if I had some slides to show.

“I’ve always carried a camera with me. I have a huge library of my pictures – of veterinary life, life in the Pennines, natural history, botany, you name it. Boxes and boxes of 35ml size and, of course, in recent years, on the computer. People ask me how many – I really don’t know. Somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000, I reckon.”

Neville’s first book, Hill Farmer, was published in 2001. His latest is called Border Collie – A Celebration of Man’s Best Friend.

“When you drive into a farmyard , the first thing you see is a collie dog,” he says. “In this book, we show the life of the Border Collie in the Pennines, from puppies through to training, trials, sheep-gathering, and accommodation – and that’s a subject in itself.

“Whatever the kennel looks like – and some of them are cobbled together – if it’s waterproof, draught-proof and well-bedded, that dog’s happy and clean. And what other dog gets the exercise that that dog gets every day?

“These dogs can start work at first light and when they get back to the farm at tea-time, they’re still up for it. They’re still raring to go.

“They’re bred for this. The border shepherds bred a biddable, intelligent dog with stamina, athleticism, a herding instinct, devotion to the owner and what shepherds call the ‘eye’ to hold the sheep.

“There was a dog that was bred in Otterburn by Adam Telfer in the late 1800s called Old Hemp and he reached virtual perfection. He sired more than 200 puppies in his lifetime, and they reckon there’s a bit of Old Hemp in every Border Collie today.”

Neville has a deep respect for the hill farmers of the Pennines, and one of his proudest achievements has been helping to set up the Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services (Utass) charity in Middleton in Teesdale. It provides assistance with today’s “paperwork minefield” as well as many other services.

“Hill farming was very traditional back in the 1960s and 1970s,” he says. “But like everything, it got high-tech with more paperwork and penalties if the farmer didn’t get it right, which he can ill-afford.

“Utass started because morale in farming was off the bottom. These poor guys were working 18-hour days and watching the overdraft get bigger. And that’s a horrible position to be in.

“I was secretary of Utass for many years. It’s unique. There is no other service like it. Prince Charles loves it – he’s visited us three times.

“Utass opened just before the 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic which was very fortuitous. The Dales farmer is a proud man and I did wonder if they wouldn’t want to be seen going through the doors of Utass looking for help. But then foot-and-mouth arrived and everybody used it.”

Neville, who is 70 this year, lives in Barnard Castle with his wife, Chris. He is working on his third picture book – provisionally called Dales Vet – and still does talks, not only locally, but on cruise ships around the world.

And he is still called on occasionally by Castle Vets to care for injured wild birds. He appeared on this year’s BBC series about vets, More Creatures Great and Small, helping a tawny owl.

Is there a future for hill farming?

“There’s got to be,” says Neville. “I’m an optimist. West of Barney you can’t do anything else except raise cattle and sheep. You can’t grow crops.

“And you couldn’t farm sheep on the hills without dogs.”

Border Collie – A Celebration of Man’s Best Friend, by Neville Turner, is published by Dalesman at £9.99