David and Carol Blower, senior managers at Hatton Country World near Warwick, are celebrating 20 years at one of the Midlands' most popular tourist attractions.

The couple first arrived there in 1985, when the craft village was in its infancy.

"I was the only employee on the Hatton estate then," said Mr Blower, who is now manager of the 800-acre site - which includes Hatton House, Hatton Country World and The Waterman pub.

It employs 200 people plus a further 100 in the shopping units.

Johnnie Arkwright had inherited the family estate in 1979, owned for more than 200 years by descendants of Sir Richard Arkwright, a founding father of the Industrial Revolution.

Mr Arkwright said: "There was only a handful of craftsmen - in what was then Hatton Craft Centre - making country furniture, saddles and riding equipment, armour and paperweights, and someone restoring vintage cars."

Mrs Blower, who is the marketing manger for Hatton Country World, helped with the bookkeeping, as well as rearing some of the estate lambs.

" I did a bit of everything," said Mrs Blower, who is also president of the International Agricultural Exchange Association, and marketing manager of Willows, Hatton's sister Farm Village near St Albans.

"We never dreamed that one day Hatton would be second only to Warwick Castle as the most popular tourist attraction in Warwickshire visited by more than 600,000 visitors a year."

Both Mr and Mrs Blower had an upbringing in agriculture and, like Mr Arkwright, were concerned about the way farming was heading.

"Johnnie had a background in property development and was looking to diversify.

"When I joined there was a traditional farm, a 'pick your own fruit and vegetables' farm and a small craft centre only open a few weekends a year but Johnnie had plans to expand," said Mr Blower.

And expand he did. Hatton Shopping Village now has 25 craft and gift shops situated in converted Victorian farm buildings, an antiques centre with 20 dealers, a farm shop, outlet shopping for clothes and homewares, the biggest collection of traditional crafts in England, and a cafe.