Rural businesses in Northumberland receive major funding boost to help growth and and create jobs

Kidlandlee Holiday Cottages, near Harbottle and The Equine Retirement Livery, at Elsdon were awarded £129,000 between them.

The Farming Advisory Service, delivered by Northumberland Small Business Service and run by Northumberland National Park Authority, supports farm businesses on strategies for growth and developing resilience as well as exploring ways to diversify.

The programme includes an investment fund of £2m to support direct capital investment by farms and other rural businesses to expand or create or safeguard jobs.

The award-winning Kidlandlee is off-grid and offers 11 luxury lodges and cottages for leisure stays near Harbottle. As well as offering self-catering retreats, the business has diversified in recent years and now offers spa treatments and dark sky experiences.

Over the last year, the business has seen bookings increase by over 37%. However, the business has had to turn away more than half of interested customers due to staff shortages to clean and change cottages and to deal with increased laundry, which is being processed in the couple’s home.

Because the location is so remote, commercial laundry services are not suitable, nor do they adhere to the site’s eco-philosophy.

Owners Matthew and Terri Stock applied for a grant to create dedicated a laundry on site that would provide storage, office space and a dedicated welfare area for staff. This capital development will also create three new jobs.

Matthew said: “We have had to restrict the number of bookings we could take because we haven’t had the staff or laundry facilities to change 11 cottages in one go. We’ve had to stagger bookings which has meant lower occupancy than we would otherwise have had. The grant will enable us to grow the occupancy, grow the turnover and employ more people.”

The building is complete and with an internal fit out the project is due by the end of the year. With these investments, the couple predict that turnover will almost double by 2027.

Simon and Georgie Kenny run a retired horse livery out of Ravenscleugh Farm, a 260-acre hill farm on the edge of Northumberland National Park, near Elsdon.

Although they set out to farm initially, the couple soon realised they had to diversify their offer to include camping, using a lake for wild swimming along with using the spare bedrooms for B&B, as well as ‘bring your own horse’ holidays.

Both Simon and Georgie have a huge amount of experience with horses and ponies, so it was only natural to look at a livery. A chance enquiry from a horse owner from London, led them to taking their first retired horse four years ago.

Word spread quickly and with the help of another grant they built a barn, so horses could be brought in during winter months or for medical care. Equine Retirement Livery has grown steadily through word of mouth to 33 horses with 10 horses on the waiting list.

The couple applied for a grant through the Farming Advisory Service to build a new barn to increase capacity to another 20 horses and create 2.5 full time jobs and those works are well under way.

Georgie said: “The horses and ponies that come to live with us come from across the country, even as far as Kent, and all of the owners come and visit regularly, they stay in the local pub, spend money in the cafes and restaurants.

"We are also able to provide a lot of work for local suppliers, such as feed merchants, hay and straw dealers, so our business is bringing in money to the local area and employing local people.

“Without the grant, we wouldn’t have been able to put up the new building to grow and secure our business for the future.”

A key goal of the Northumberland National Park Management Plan is to support the creation and development of sustainable communities and businesses.

Jennifer Shaw, conservation and environment manager, Northumberland National Park, said: “It is wonderful to help secure these grants through the Farming Advisory Service, recognising the crucial role that farmers, landowners, and rural businesses play in preserving Northumberland’s landscape and enhancing the local economy.”

Lucy Evermore, programme manager for NSBS, said: “The collaborative work has resulted in some amazing support to farming businesses across Northumberland. Not only have we been able to provide financial support but seeing the result in jobs being created in the county is an excellent outcome.”

The project is part-funded by the North East Combined Authority and the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.