FOR something described by its inventor as "a stupid-looking machine", the Le-Monn ground clearer hasn't done badly at all.

Because this cross between a lawn mower, rotovator and brushcutter manufactured in the rural backwater of Suckley Knowl, 10 miles west of Worcester, has notched up more than 1,000 sales throughout the UK and Europe.

A real gardening hybrid, which cuts anything from 6ft high brambles to a front lawn, it was the idea of engineer Pete Farman, when he was looking to clear six acres of land he owned at Birchwood, near Storridge.

"I couldn't think of anything to do the job," he said. "So I sat down and knocked up a machine from spare bits I had around the place."

He used a lawnmower engine to drive a rotary blade mounted on a frame with one front wheel and two at the side.

"I know it looked rather stupid, but it worked and it wasn't long before neighbours asked if they could borrow it.

"At that stage I thought, 'I might have something here', so I started taking plans to manufacturers. But no one was interested. So I decided to manufacture it myself."

Pete is now marketing a driven version of the Le-Monn, which in its basic form costs £695 plus VAT, with various attachments including a front barrow, grass mulcher, snow plough and tipping trailer.

"We recently notched up our 1,000th sale," he added.

Not so daft after all then.