PAUL Cole would probably agree that some people choose to go into business as an exciting adventure while others do it out of necessity.

The Monmouth haulier would probably also see himself as falling into both categories.

Foot-and-mouth disease, BSE and other events which have ravaged the countryside as a place in which to make a living by traditional means have all led to his new occupation - as chauffeur to those who wish to travel in style.

Parked in the grounds of his West Farm home, Dingestow, are two elegant Daimler DS 420 limousines, which he has bought to run a new company called Nant Finn Classic Cars, available for weddings, anniversaries and elegant days out.

He has seen his livestock haulage business decline as a result of the changes in farming.

That business has already diversified to the extent that he has taken back to the Continent shoes sent to Clarks in Somerset from their manufacturers in Portugal.

After seeing his neighbours' daughter married in style he decided to get into the classic car transport business himself, with help from Keith Jones, of Prime-Cymru, the group which triggers and develops the entrepreneurial tendency in the over-50s.

"Livestock has ceased to be an ongoing proposition," said Mr Cole. "I knew someone who had a pig farm near Sedgemoor Services on the M5 whose business has gone with all that's happened, and he obtained a wedding licence for the house and converted the pig unit into a reception hall.

"Once you lose customers in this business you won't get them back.

"What I am hoping to do is perhaps use the lorries at the beginning of the week and combine that with what we can do with the new business at the end of the week, though I'd like to think that we could use the cars any day.

"We are hoping to create about four part-time jobs but we have to be realistic and believe that it is going to take a little while to pick up."

He was vaguely interested in American stretch limos but then thought buying British was best, the epitome of both in automobile terms being 1970s Daimlers which were last made in 1991. The two he finally bought, in tasteful ruby red, were from a dealer in Bolton.

"You shouldn't base a business on what you like but it would be nice to take people, such as silver wedding couples, on nostalgic trips," he said.

"The advice from Keith has been excellent. I've been surprised at the support." Mr Jones predicts that because customers book limos in advance, the flow of business will not accelerate until the spring.

"But special occasions like trips to Chepstow races or nostalgia journeys might be a useful market," he said. "We're also helping with a website and the business has started advertising."

West Farm is the site of an historic dressing-well, where religious pilgrims would decorate sources of holy water, and this is linked to a stream called Nant Finn, a tributary of the River Trothy - hence the name of the company.

Mr Cole, aged 50, doesn't think livestock haulage will revert to its former practices because transport of livestock is being restricted to as few movements as possible and farmers' markets are declining.

All the neighbours are intrigued by the new business.

"They all think I'm a bit mad anyway," Mr Cole joked. "The business is British, if that counts for anything these days. But the rural economy is changing. At Tesco, for instance, it's noteworthy how many agency drivers are ex-farmers."

Nant Finn is at 01600 740123, mobile 07950 381191.

* Pictured, Paul Cole with a Daimler DS 420S