A race which sees people running with their dogs will take place at Kielder in April.

CaniX UK are staging the races on April 12. There will be a 5km main race and a 2.5km race for beginners. Dogs are attached to their owners via a waist belt, a bungy line and a racing harness. There are different age classes ranging from children to pensioners.

Entries to the race close on April 6. For more details, go to www.canix.co.uk.

Last week's poll on the Your Place Northumberland sites asked people to vote for their favourite natural beauty spot in the county. We celebrate the winner, the Farne Islands, with a gallery of photos showing some of the islands' inhabitants:

You've picked Northumberland's top castle and its top beauty spot, but now we're asking you for your views on the county's best building.

Our choice of 12 impressive structures ranges from the Royal Border Bridge in the north to Seaton Delaval Hall in the south, from the 12th century Hexham Abbey to modern buildings like Woodhorn and Alnwick Treehouse.

You can also pick from Morpeth Chantry, Howick Hall, Belsay Hall, Wallington, Brinkburn Priory, Cragside or Biddlestone Chapel - or add your own choice if we've missed it.

You can vote by clicking your choice on the Local Poll section at the bottom of this home page. The voting will be open for the next two weeks, with the winner announced on April 10.

A tree planting ceremony will take place next week to celebrate the inauguration of the new Northumberland County Council.

Council leader Jeff Reid and chief executive Steve Stewart will be planting an oak tree in the grounds of County Hall, Morpeth, on Wednesday at 1pm.

They will also be officially raising the new county council flag.

Meanwhile, residents across the county can still give their opinions on how they would like the new-look authority to tackle problems in their community.

The Farne Islands have been voted Northumberland's top beauty spot.

In the latest poll on the Your Place community websites, the Farnes got 27% of the votes, ahead of Lindisfarne (22%) and the Cheviots (17%).

Votes also went to Bolam Lakes, Crag Lough, Allen Banks, Druridge Bay and Kielder Water.

A Northumberland businessman will be handing nearly £3,000 to the Great North Air Ambulance in recognition of its efforts in rescuing his wife when she was seriously injured in the countryside.

Marketing firm Robson Brown raised the money with a teddy bear auction at an event to celebrate its 25th anniversary so that its chief executive Alan Brown could thank the air ambulance for helping his wife Judith.

She was airlifted to hospital in 2007 after she fell and broke her leg at the family's farm at
Simonburn, north of Hexham.

Schoolchildren from around Northumberland battled it out in a swimming competition while being cheered on by Olympic and Commonwealth medal winners.

Some of the winners at the event at Hexham, with stars Chris Cook, left, and Nick Gillingham adding support

The competition, held at the Wentworth Leisure Centre in Hexham, saw 80 children aged eight to 15 compete in a range of events, including team relays, individual front crawl, breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke.

Tynedale Council has marked the end of its life by making 15 of its longest serving councillors - including Kirkwhelpington's Janet Somerville - honorary aldermen.

The council gave the honour to members who had served for 18 years or more, with a special presentation to Bill Garrett, from Prudhoe, who was a councillor for the whole of Tynedale's 36-year history.

An organic livestock farmer is sharing ideas with his Eastern European counterparts who have been visiting Northumberland from Lithuania.

Steve Ramshaw, pictured, hosted the visit of 40 members of the Lithuanian Family Farmers Union, along with the country's vice-minister of agriculture Mindaugus Kuklierius, at his Monkridge Hill farm near West Woodburn last week.

Vital emergency cover in parts of Northumberland could be lost following a controversial EU ruling on working hours, fire chiefs warned last night.

The county currently has 155 retained firefighters on lifesaving duty from the end of a pager to attend call-outs in rural areas.

New restrictions under the EU Working Time Directive (WTD) seek to impose a strict 48-hour maximum working week on all British employees, a rule already adopted by many European countries.