AS locations go, Newton Rigg Campus is in a pretty good spot.

At the head of the Eden Valley, with the Pennine and Lakeland hills in sight, many students at the campus really do have a room with a view.

The estate covers 245 hectares, including two farms run as commercial units and allowing students a chance to indulge in a wide spectrum of vocational learning.

Newton Rigg Campus has been part of the University of Central Lancashire since August of 1998 and that has meant an increase in the subjects now available at the Penrith campus.

For many years Newton Rigg has been regarded as the place to go for young farmers to get formal training.

But while the college is rightly proud of its agricultural background, it now provides a diverse choice of subjects for post 16 year-old students.

Full-time students now number 750, yet just ten years ago that figure was 150, which goes to show how the college has grown in stature in recent years.

In order to provide top-class facilities for the students, a new £3 million pound library and resource centre has been built.

The building will open in September 2001 and will increase the IT facilities available to students and also provide study rooms.

"We are gradually breaking down the barrier of just being known as a farming college but we are very well regarded in that area and rightly so," said Andy Harris, marketing and promotions officer.

Indeed, Newton Rigg Campus is the National School of Forestry and has been for the past 30 years, giving it an international reputation that attracts students from all over the world to study forestry.

In fact, Newton Rigg has the biggest forestry faculty of any university in the country and it has just launched a distance learning degree in forest management.

But while Newton Rigg is famous for its agricultural and horticultural courses, it also covers courses as wide ranging as childcare, game keeping and business studies.

Students can complete HNDs and degrees and with around half the intake being 16 to 18 year-olds, many study for national diplomas.

Chris Starr is head of forestry, agriculture, horticulture and engineering.

"Obviously all the areas are quite different and here at Newton Rigg, students can study for both academic and vocational courses," said Mr Starr.

"As well as being the National School of Forestry, Newton Rigg is the county centre for agriculture and has been for the past 100 years.

"Along with HNDs, diplomas and National Diplomas, there are a lot of short training courses available for people within the agricultural industry.

Despite the recent problems in the farming industry, recruitment for all the courses is still strong."

Engineering courses have a strong focus on agricultural and forestry engineering and students benefit greatly from the fact that many of the teaching staff have come from the industry and have years of experience behind them.

Horticulture is another popular subject with landscape design one of the options available.

Success beckoned a group of Newton Rigg students and teachers a few years ago when they won a gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show for their garden based on Lakeland Reflections.

"The campus has links with universities throughout America and Canada and the calibre of our courses does attract students from around the world," added Mr Starr.

While many of the courses at Newton Rigg are dominated by male students, women make up around 40 per cent of the intake.

Many of these study the childcare and animal care courses, as well as the business options.

Joint degrees have become more popular over recent years and the campus now offers around 18 joint degrees, including business and marketing and environment management and tourism.

"Being part of the University of Central Lancashire has meant that the areas we are now involved in are far wider than land-based studies," added Mr Harris.

Newton Rigg also offers a range of facilities for people in the region - companies and organisations can take advantage of the conference facilities at the campus.

And Newton Rigg and is also a centre for Open University learning.

Tutorials are held at the Campus on Saturdays and there is a resource centre providing information.