A top breeder of borzois who kept kennels at Barton Seagrave for almost 50 years, has died.

Mrs Eleanor Harpur, formerly of The Kennels, S. Botolph's Road, Barton Seagrave, died at the weekend in a Colchester hospital. She was 75.

The funeral service will be at Barton Seagrave Parish Church on Thursday.

Born in Creaton, Northampton, daughter of a local farmer, she moved to Barton Seagrave in 1923. The following year she set up her own kennels in her home.

She kept golden retrievers, terriers and labradors, but her greatest love were borzois.

Later she expanded her kennels and converted a row of terraced cottages at Burton Latimer to Windmill Kennels.

She showed dogs at Crufts, bred seven champions and picked up gold and silver medals throughout the country.

She married Mr Richard Gilpin Harpur and they had one son, Jerald, who is now a photographer.

During the Second World War she served as a bus conductress in the Kettering area.

She continued dog breeding after the war but in 1973 was forced to give it up after a court case.

"Dogs were her life. She would always put them before herself." said Mr Jerald Harpur.