REBECCA Hill, who handles the office work for a number of farmers in the Marlborough and Swindon areas, has been named as Farm Administrator of The Year.

Mrs Hill, 42, of Chiseldon who has a six-year-old daughter, Lizzie, received the Lloyds TSB Bank-sponsored award at the Royal Show held recently at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire.

The role of farm administrator was formerly known as farm secretary and no-one was more delighted with the change in name than Mrs Hill who grew up on a farm in Newent in the Forest of Dean.

Mrs Hill said: "I always felt the title farm secretary was not very good because you think of a farm secretary typing letters and doing very little else. In fact there is very little typing of letters and more involvement in the financial side of running the farms."

Currently Mrs Hill works for about ten farms in the Marlborough and Swindon areas including the 2,500-acre Manton Farming estate.

She began her farm secretarial work about 20 years ago and although she has worked for agencies has spent the last 12 years working for herself.

Mrs Hill said a good administrator has to have the absolute trust of an employer because they have to know and understand all about farm finances.

"We take care of all the payments and administration for a farm, filling out all the VAT returns and managing the finances. About the only thing we leave to the farmer is the actual running of the farm," she said.

Mrs Hill was formerly a member of Marlborough Young Farmers and once spent a year touring farms in Australia under a Young Farmers' scholarship.

Contestants were given an example of a farm on which they had to suggest ways of improving its performance.