IT isn't quite selling refrigerators to Eskimos. And the lady in question had staged art festivals in castles and Methodist churches, had even worked with the controversial sculptor Damien Hirst to organise a travelling art exhibition based on the somewhat chilly subject of death.

But even for a woman with a background of "off-the-wall" thinking like Anthea Rathlin-Jones, the task she was set by an amalgam of art-loving college lecturers, hard-headed local businessmen and some leading local farmers was a somewhat singular challenge.

The question was: could a cattle market be overnight turned into a cutting edge arts centre and the following day go back to its function as the linchpin of local agriculture?

Well, the answer to that - I am delighted to report - is a resounding "yes".

Thanks to the efforts of a wide range of local folk, co-ordinated by Anthea, Skipton Cattle Mart has become a much talked about pioneer of rural theatre, folk music and painting - but has also added to its already high reputation as one of the leading a livestock sales and exhibition centres in the North of England.

So successful has it become in recent years that it is now the target of a highly unpopular hostile takeover bid, which is not the subject of this column. But it all began in the wake of near tragedy - the foot-and-mouth epidemic of five years ago.

That debacle exposed for all to see just how fragile the Craven economy was to events beyond its control.

Skipton Mart, with sales banned for months, suffered as badly as many of its farming clients.

As a result, some wise heads got together to discuss ways of spreading the load in future.

They included directors of CCM - Craven Cattle Marts Ltd - lecturers from Craven College who already had a theatre course in their buildings on the site, Craven Rural and Business Skills, and representatives of the local arts scene.

The auction ring had already been used as a "theatre-in-the round" for local amateur dramatics and it was decided that there might be a future in expanding the arts side of the operation.

What was needed was a professional to help run the show.

This is where Anthea Rathlin-Jones enters the picture.

Although widely travelled, she was already a Craven resident, having settled with her husband - also an arts development officer - in a cottage overlooking the Ribblehead railway viaduct at Chapel-le-Dale.

Trouble was, Robin worked for Richmondshire District Council in Middleham and Anthea was based in Kendal, so their ways parted early every morning and they did not see each other until late in the evening.

As she says: "I jumped at the chance when I saw the job of events manager advertised at the mart. But there was a lot of work to be done before we really got things going and - please make this clear - it wouldn't have been possible without a lot of effort by other people and, in particular, without the backing of the CCM directors and their generous financial report."

Anthea was born in Cornwall, the daughter of a customs officer and his wife who kept a B&B. She went to art college in Kent and then began to work as an arts development officer, staging concerts in castles, organising touring theatre groups and art exhibitions.

You get the impression that the more unlikely the venue, the more she likes it - "I suppose I do a lot of off-the-wall thinking," she admits. "But even I thought that a cattle mart was a bit odd as an arts venue - until I came here and saw the place.

"It is, in fact, almost ideal in some ways. We remove the auctioneer's rostrum, hang a curtain at the back where the livestock are led in and the acoustics are perfect. If you think about it, that is what it was designed for: the auctioneers must be heard clearly when a sale is on.

"Some of the backstage amenities are somewhat lacking - for instance, we change in the CCM's boardroom - but all this adds to the excitement created by the uniqueness of the venue.

"Word is getting round the arts scene throughout the country. I keep getting calls from some of the well-known artistes I have known over the years who are intrigued at the idea of performing here. I think we can expect some pretty exciting developments in the coming months."

Skipton Mart now has its own professional Sheeptown Theatre Company, which is specialising in locally-written drama with a strong rural theme - "It is an ideal place to air country concerns to an audience of country people who know what the characters are talking about."

But that is not the end of it. The agricultural side of the business is thriving, too.

A month ago, the mart staged the National Beef Expo 2007, which attracted top beef cattle breeders from all over Europe. Some 6,000 visitors attended the show, filling every bed in every hotel and B&B for miles around.

Anthea Rathlin-Jones quite rightly declines to discuss the potential threat to this resounding local success posed by the current take-over bid - "That is something for the CCM directors, who are fighting the bid very hard" - but my personal worry is that the bidders are mostly interested in the development potential of the 28-acre site.

Skipton Mart is growing and expanding its interests with great skill, employing professionals who know their business and are prepared to put in the hard work.

It is a highly successful local initiative born out of very hard times. It deserves grateful local support.