By RUTH LOGNONNE

Last updated at 15:41, Monday, 29 November 2010

A COUPLE from Leeds are getting a taste of the good life after taking the reins at Herding Hill Farm Shop and Tea Room, in Haltwhistle.

City transfer: Anne and Stephen Dunwell with their two children, Michael and Emma.

Steve Dunwell and his wife Anne became the new owners of Herding Hill Farm last month.

Steve, who works in sales, and Anne, a special needs assistant at a school in Leeds, have been city dwellers their entire life.

When the farm shop in Haltwhistle came up for sale, the couple knew this was the perfect opportunity for a lifestyle change.

Steve has never worked with livestock before but is keen to learn as much as he can about the farming industry.

He will continue working in sales for six months until Herding Hill Farm becomes a sustainable business in its own right.

“We’re not farmers,” said Steve. “I’m not pretending that I’ll know everything in two minutes so we’re going to rent the land out initially to farmers who want to graze sheep and cattle.

“Once I’ve packed in work I’m going to go to Ridley Hall college and do some adult learning courses on different aspects of farming.

“If the soil’s right we might even grow our own vegetables and sell them in our shop. The more products we can source from our farm the better.”

The couple hope to radicalise what the shop has been selling up to now.

They will be stocking locally grown vegetables on their shelves and hope to source meat from nearby livestock farmers.

In the future, the Dunwells would like to expand their business even further and turn part of the farm into a campsite.

In fact, it was a caravan that drew the soon-to-be-farmers to the Tyne Valley in the first place.

“We took our caravan to Kielder and left it on site,” said Steve. “We’ve been coming up regularly during the summer and we fell in love with the area.

“It was during a trip away here in August when we saw the farm was for sale and went to view it.

“We sat in the Grey Bull that night and had a glass of wine. We loved the people and the place and we instantly wanted to be part of the community.”

Herding Hill Farm’s previous owners, Debbie and Charles Rayson, were perhaps best known for their delicious Dexter rare breed beef. Acclaimed for its farm shop and gourmet bistro, Steve and Anne have a hard act to follow, but that’s not curbing the couple’s ambitions.

“Instead of being open just three days a week we’re going to be open six,” said Steve. “We will be staying open on a Saturday and a Tuesday as we’ve been advised by the locals to do so.

“If we grow and develop enough we’d love to be in a position to take on staff locally. This is a new venture and we’re not from a rural background but we have loads of ideas and we want to hit the ground running.”

First published at 09:19, Monday, 15 November 2010
Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk