When Vicar Paul Sweeting left for the Falkland Islands last year with his young family in tow, he never expected his company car would be a four wheel drive, penguins would outnumber people and his wife could get to work in 20 seconds flat. Reporter ALEXANDRA FREDMAN discovers what makes the Falklands such a fascinating place to live for one Blackburn family. . .

TEACHER Maxine Sweeting has possibly the shortest journey to work in history. She walks out the back door of the family bungalow, through the back gate and arrives at the only primary school in the islands's capital, Stanley, in just 20 seconds.

Her journey is world away from the time she spent stuck in grid-locked traffic to make the 10-minute journey to her former school, Ceders Primary in Blackburn.

Since March, last year, the Sweetings and their two children, Jonty, seven and Adam, six, have been living on the Falklands - 8000 miles away from their former home in Lancashire.

Mr Sweeting, 34, formerly the Reverend of St Gabriel's Church, Brownhill, is now Rector of the Falklands and priest-in-charge of Christ Church Cathedral, Stanley, a role he will fill for the next four years.

His new parish covers a huge area the size of Wales - a mammoth 8015sq miles - and to visit his 2500 parishioners - 700 of which live on surrounding islands - he has to travel in a 4x4 car to tackle the tough terrain. He makes longer journeys by boat and even light aircraft.

He said: "Next week I am travelling to South Georgia in the South Atlantic on the Royal Fleet Artillery Vessel, the Gold Rover, to see some four of my parishioners. Plus there are some British Antarctic scientists who are studying birds out there as well. It will take three days just to get there!"

The family have also had to adapt to the change in climate.

"People in the Falklands talk about the weather more than they do in Lancashire. It can change from rain to hail and then sunshine in only a day."

"Its much windier than Blackburn! Most buildings have corrugated metal roofs, including the cathedral, which is firmly bolted down", he said.

The Falklands are a haven for wildlife - penguins who inhabit the islands outnumber people, 25 to one.

Mr Sweeting said: "Recently we had our first visitor here - my best friend Peter who is from Oxford - and I took him to Sea Lion Island. We were only there for 48 hours, but in that time, we saw three types of penguin, dozens of Southern elephant seals, sea lions and a pod of killer whales, some of which came within 100ft of where we were sitting on the cliff above!"

The one thing Rev Sweeting misses most about living on the island is a pint of draught beer.

"We live next to a hotel here but they only serve bottled beer. I enjoyed going to the Royal Oak in Pleckgate, Blackburn for a pint of bitter and a curry."

Food can also be much more expensive than in Lancashire.

He added: "I am also thinking about growing my own vegetables. Half a cauliflower here costs £1.80 and a small tub of tomatoes, £2.50, but fish which is the main industry on the island, is virtually free"

The family keep in contact with family and friends by phone, email and they also publish a bi-monthly newsletter of their adventures which normally takes two weeks to arrive in Blackburn by airmail.

Mr Sweeting said: "We are enjoying it a lot here but we are missing our family and friends. Maxine's parents are staying with us at the moment and they are surprised how different our way of life is now!"