A NORTH Yorkshire post office will leave family hands after more than a century of service, when its postmaster retires this month.

Ian Topham, 64, will swap stamps and bills for gardening gloves and the potting shed when he retires from Boroughbridge Post Office after four decades behind the counter.

The community business, which has been in his family for three generations, spanning 109 years, will remain open under new ownership.

Ian and his wife, Barbara, plan to move to Alne, near Easingwold, where keen gardener Ian said he was looking forward to taking up the challenge of a sizeable new garden.

"Our new house has a three-quarters-of-a-mile long garden which was advertised as one of the longest in North Yorkshire," he said. "It's just as well I enjoy gardening."

Ian, who was awarded the MBE in the Queen's 1998 New Years Honours list, was Boroughbridge's first mayor, a position which he has held four times.

He has also worked to defend the village from flooding as emergency officer for the village, a post he gave up 18 months ago.

"We have both been looking forward to our retirement very much, but we will miss life in the post office.

"We have done it for such a long time, but now we are ready for another stage in our lives," he said.

Updated: 10:27 Saturday, January 04, 2003