Demand for cereal leads to thriving breakfast business

Her Yockenthwaite Farm Granola is so good that demand has gone from just a few bowlfuls each morning to 1,000 bags a week.

What proved a popular start to the day for guests staying at her farmhouse bed and breakfast is now served in leading hotels like the Malmaison, in Leeds, the Feversham Arms, Helmsley, and the Devonshire Arms, Bolton Abbey.

Many farm shops stock it, including Weeton's in Harrogate, Elijah Allens, in Hawes, Campbells and Yorkshires' Own, in Leyburn, Spring House Farm Shop, Northallerton, and Ainsty Farm Shop, Green Hammerton.

Other fans buy from her stall at 20 farmers' markets, including Richmond, Leyburn, Ripon and Stokesley, while more order it on line.

Mrs Hird and her husband, Stuart, live with their three sons at Yockenthwaite Farm, near Buckden, North Yorkshire.

The house stands 800ft above sea level beside the River Wharfe in Langstrothsdale Chase, Upper Wharfedale, but the land rises to 2,000ft.

Mr Hird is the fifth generation to live there - the original family member was a widow who moved from Swaledale with her ten children in 1842.

The farm has Swaledale and Dalesbred Sheep and the Hirds have run a successful mail order delivery service for Yockenthwaite Lamb for 12 years.

That business began because B&B guests enjoyed their evening meal so much they wanted to be able to buy the lamb when they returned home.

It was the guests who also led to their thriving granola business - ironically, at the expense of the B&B.

"We simply did not have the time or space for guests anymore,"

said Mrs Hird, who originally cooked the granola in her own kitchen.

Three years on, she has one full-time and four part-time staff - all who live in Hawes - who help produce the cereal in the kitchen in a converted dairy.

"It was when we first offered it to guests that we realised we had something special," said Mrs Hird.

She then took 40 bags to the farmers' market at Grassington and was astonished when it quickly sold out.

The couple were introduced to granola - a crunchy wholegrain cereal, popular in the States and Australia - by neighbours David and Linda Finnell, who produce bread mixes as Bread of Life.

Yockenthwaite Farm Granola is made using only natural ingredients - wheat from Sproxton near Helmsley and spelt, an ancient grain, from Cambridgeshire.

Other ingredients are honey from West Yorkshire, oats, olive oil and nuts.

The wheat is milled and the oats rolled just moments before the ingredients are mixed and baked on trays in specially installed ovens.

Mrs Hird said: "Because the oats are rolled and the flour milled immediately before cooking we get the optimum flavour, it is the same practice as when coffee is freshly ground.

"The grain is nature's packaging.

The moment it is cracked open it starts to break down, so the sooner you use it the better it is."

She makes five granolas - Original Recipe Nutty, Nutty Not So Sweet, Nutty Spelt, Oat/Spelt, and Not So Sweet Oat/Spelt Granola; all in 475g and 1.4kg bags or tubs.

Spelt is more digestible than modern wheats. Although not gluten free, it can often be eaten by those with a wheat intolerance.

However, few farmers grow it because it is low yielding and difficult to process - consequently it is expensive to buy.

Mrs Hird said: "We have been surprised by the variation in the natural ingredients. Some people might see it as a drawback, but we think it is an attraction, something that nature produces."

Subtle differences in honey can have a big effect on the flavour. Mrs Hird likes to use honey from borage as it is not too sweet - she uses 300lbs a month.

Granola can be eaten either on its own as a snack, with milk, with yoghurt or as a topping on fruit, and Mrs Hird has now decided to step up production and promote it.

"We have never really pushed, it, but it has reached the point where we either stay as we are or grow. Most of the business is within a 50 or 60 mile radius of here, but we are getting inquiries from outside the area.

"We have decided to give it a push, re-vamp our image and improve the packaging. We are busy with that at the moment.

"We will continue to produce it here, but realise that one day, if it continues to grow, we may have to find a different location."

Yockenthwaite Farm can be contacted on 01756-760835, at www.yockenthwaitefarm.co.uk or at granola@yockenthwaitefarm.

co.uk.