A Crosby woman has raised almost ten thousand pounds in the past 12 months for Hospice at Home West Cumbria by making sheep and highland cattle doorstops.

Margaret Harkins' house is full of recently finished sheep in all colours and all the animals have names.

She said: "I have been making them for the last few years, but seriously started last year. Someone will buy a sheep and the word gets around. I'm baffled by how much they've made, they sell quite easily at £15 each."

There are a small team of helpers throughout West Cumbria who volunteer to knit bodies for her and she then assembles the doorstops at home. It takes about six to seven hours to make one, and 785 have been completed so far.

She said: "I would like to pass on my thanks to all who have helped me, some do the horns, faces or knit the bodies."

Hayley McKay, head of marketing and income generation at Hospice At Home West Cumbria said: "It's absolutely outstanding. Margaret is the leader of a group of volunteers and they knit the doorstops in their own homes. I've got one myself. Mine is called Bertie. We have to raise over £1 million a year and we wouldn't be able to do this without help from volunteers."

Ms Harkins says that she usually makes four to five sheep a week, usually in the evenings and that making the doorstops has totally taken over her life.

She works on them seven days a week and intends to stop production when she reaches 1,000 - but is happy to pass her knowledge and skills on so that others can continue to make them.

The doorstops even have a royal stamp of approval. Prince Charles was sent a sheep for his 70th birthday as he is a patron of the charity. Ms Harkins has a letter from Clarence House saying thank you. She said: "For his I knitted one in grey wool to look like a Herdwick sheep."

Outlets for the sheep and highland cattle doorstops include Moota Cafe, Cockermouth; Craft Workshop, Workington; Lorton Village Store and The Ennerdale Brewery, Rowrah.

Ms Harkins said she has always done crafts and attends a craft group at the Hospice At Home building in Finkle Street, Workington. At the craft group she attempted to make the doorstops in fabric and then devised a knitting pattern for them.

If people are interested in joining the craft group to do knitting, sewing or crocheting they meet every fortnight on Monday. The group also knits Easter chicks and chocolate orange covers at Christmas.

Anyone willing to donate wool for the doorstops or quilts and pillows for the stuffing can take them to the Hospice at Home shop in Finkle Street, Workington.