An old mill at the heart of Church is the unlikely setting for a publishing company that is earning an international reputation.

Marine World, brought out every two months by Valley Publishing, is the UK's only magazine that caters for marine fish-keeping.

And thanks to the wonders of the world-wide-web, the magazine is building up a truly global readership.

Since the launch of the web site - www.marineworldmagazine.com - sales have risen by 15 per cent with new inquiries coming in daily.

Publisher Liz Donlan said growing international sales, particularly to the USA, were playing a big part in the rising circulation.

"We launched the web site in June last year and there has been a real surge in sales," she said. "We now have readers in more than a dozen countries and many of them are also buying back issues which is a bonus."

To help with the development cost of the web site, Valley Publishing received £500 from the European Regional Development Fund in a programme managed by the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce.

Marine World is very much a one-woman operation, with Liz in charge of everything from the editorial to the advertising.

She launched the magazine four years ago after starting keeping marine fish as a hobby. "I looked around for a magazine, but there wasn't anything on the market," she explained. "I spoke to a lot of people at shops selling marine fish and they all encouraged me to give it a go."

The magazine has grown steadily in size to its current 132 glossy, full colour pages and some of the world's leading experts on marine fish are among the contributors.

Liz's next target is to build sales in America. "I am very keen to get into the US market," she said. "I think that is where our future lies. If we managed to increase sales there to say 2,000 copies, we could start to think about having a second print run in America."