HE is undoubtedly one of Peeblesshire's most successful businessmen of all time.

But multi-millionaire Glenrath owner John Campbell surpassed his boardroom achievements on Saturday by finally winning the Champion of Champions trophy at Peebles Show with his Blackface ewe.

The 82-year-old, whose poultry and farming company employs 240 staff and has an annual turn-over of around £60 million, has been attempting to land the top prize since moving to Tweeddale in 1959.

And it proved to be 56th time lucky for dedicated sheep farmer.

John told us: "For me, this goes way above any success we've had with the egg business.

"It has been one of my life ambitions for many, many years to win the Blackface competition at Peebles Show. We finally did on Saturday at the 56th attempt and to cap it all we also won the Champion of Champions."

John took his first steps into farming in Argyllshire at 15, and eventually bought over the tenancy with his brother.

When he turned 27, he and his wife Cathy decided to go their own way.

They took over Glenrath and have grown their hugely successful business from scratch.

Today the business produces, packs and sells almost 1.5 million eggs each day, and farms over 600 suckler cows and 10,000 sheep - including around 1,000 of his beloved Blackfaces.

But for all of his success, the ultimate prize at his local agricultural show has evaded him.

Despite an entry of around 900 sheep at the weekend, John finally came out on top.

He added: "This is one of the most competitive sheep shows in Scotland.

"We have shown our Blackface sheep at the show since the very first year we moved to Peeblesshire.

"There have been a few times that I thought we had a good chance of being the Blackface Champion but there's always been one better.

"We have won many rosettes and trophies over the years but we've never had the Blackface Champion or the Champion of Champions.

"It was great to finally win."

Peebles Agricultural Show has gone from strength to strength since relocating to Nether Horsburgh.

Don't miss this week's Peeblesshire News for the full results from Saturday's Show.