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THE seeds have been sown for a football pitch fit for a Premier League team.

Workmen from national firm Campey Turfcare and Ashington-based Greenlay spent two days at Dukeshouse, in Fellside, near Hexham, to renovate the junior and mini soccer pitch to high class spec.

The project is part of a national campaign to significantly improve grassroots pitches, Hexham Football Club one of just 13 clubs across the UK to benefit from the expert care.

The scheme is free of charge, although Northumberland County Council agreed to meet the cost of 300kg of grass seed and 60 tonnes of fine sand.

Now that the work has been carried out, the grass will start to come through in two weeks and it will be playable by the beginning of August.

Area manager for Campey Turfcare, Richard Haywood, said: "This is all about providing a new, young and vibrant playing surface which will drain much better.

"The biggest thing is to show that if local authorities can embrace natural turf maintenance, then it can hire the pitches out and increase revenue streams.

"We've done our bit and now what is important is the management after that, as Hexham need to keep on top of fertilisation, irrigation, cutting and maintenance."

Now that the work has been carried out, there is a lot of excitement about the project.

Since Dukeshouse was opened in 2011, it has plagued with waterlogging problems much to the frustration of parents involved with the club.

However, the new work looks to end those problems and the future looks bright for the facility.

Hexham FC committee member Andy Turnbull said: "Dukeshouse should be the envy of other clubs around because of the facilities, but we haven't had the pitch to match it.

"Hopefully, this work will sort all those problems out and it's a very exciting development."