AN East Lancashire farmer and his wife are set to leave the area and take up farming thousands of miles away in America.

Ian Townson, 29, is due to move to North Carolina later this month with his wife Hannah, where they will work on a pig breeding farm for Smithfield Foods, one of the world's largest food firms.

Currently the couple run a small farm near Gisburn, where their livestock have won awards recently. Ian has worked on a farm since leaving school, and his father is also a farmer.

At the Christmas Prime Cattle Show in Gisburn, sponsored by East Lancashire accountants PM&M, one of their cows scooped first prize, and was then sold for a local record price of £2,440 to the Fisherman's Retreat restaurant, Ramsbottom.

Ian said: "We were delighted with the final show. You always go hoping to win, but to actually scoop first prize is always an achievement.

"The Gisburn market is only just down the road for us so it was a good result all round. It was strange knowing it was our last one, but we are looking forward to a new challenge in America."