North Winners & Finalists 2018/19
Congratulations to all our winners, runners up and finalists! Following a wonderful night at the Last Drop Hotel in Bolton, we are now able to reveal exactly who our judges thought were the best and brightest rural businesses in our North region.
We hope that all of our finalists enjoyed themselves at our celebration of everything that makes rural Britain unique. Whether they won or not, they should be incredibly proud of themselves and all they have achieved.
Scroll down to view our winners or click on the link to jump to a category.
Best Rural Start Up


Westmorland Homecare
Cumbria


Spirit of Yorkshire Ltd
North Yorkshire

Field & Forage
East Yorkshire

Cumbria
Lakes and Lambs

Little Beau Sheep
West Yorkshire
Outstanding Rural Diversification Project


William's Den
East Yorkshire


Cannon Hall Farm
South Yorkshire

Beadlam Grange Farmshop
North Yorkshire

Heaton House Events Ltd
Cheshire

Wensleydale Experience
North Yorkshire
Best Rural Retail Business


Durham Hens Ltd
County Durham


Farmer Copleys Ltd
West Yorkshire

Park Lodge Shooting School
East Yorkshire

Podgy Paws Pet Shop
Cumbria

The Shop at Glasson Dock
Lancashire
Best Rural Manufacturing Business


Skyeskyns
Isle of Skye


Harrison Spinks Beds Ltd
West Yorkshire

Breckenholme
North Yorkshire

FinHunterUK
Roxburghshire

Hawkshead Relish Company
Cumbria
Best Rural Professional Services Business


Sassy Property Styling
Cumbria


Hillsgreen Marketing Consultants
Cheshire

Blue Ninja Business Support
Fife

Rural Insurance
North Yorkshire

Vicky Anderson Ltd
North Yorkshire
Best Rural Creative or Media-based Business


Resipole Studios and Fine Art Gallery
Argyll


Farm Creative
Lancashire

Clare Brownlow Pheasant Feather Art
Hawick

Kate Simpson Fine Art
Northumberland

Tall Tales Mysteries
County Durham


Rusland Horizons Landscape Partnership
Cumbria


Field Nurse
Lancashire

Living Potential Care Farming CIC
North Yorkshire

Outdoor and Sustainability Education Service
County Durham

The Highlanders' Museum
Highlands and Islands
Best Rural Tourism Business


A Corner of Eden
Cumbria


Airhouses
Scottish Borders

Beech Farm
Yorkshire

Camp Katur
North Yorkshire

Cedar Retreats
North Yorkshire
Best Rural Recreational or Outdoor Pursuits Business


Newlands Adventure Centre
Cumbria


Yorkshire Trike Tours
North Yorkshire

North East Falconry
Tyne and Wear

Silverband Falconry
Cumbria

Speyside Falconry
Moray
Best Rural Education or Training Business


Mini Explorers Nursery
North Yorkshire


Embryonics Ltd
Cheshire

Lowe Maintenance
North Yorkshire

Stockley Farm Park
Cheshire

Vicky Anderson Ltd
North Yorkshire
Best Rural Food Business


Country Puddings Ltd
Cumbria


Loch Duart
Sutherland

Cranstons Quality Butchers
Cumbria

Farmison & Co
North Yorkshire

Side Oven Ltd
East Yorkshire
Best Rural Drink Business


Trolle Trading Limited
Cumbria


Farm Yard Ales
Lancashire

Ampleforth Abbey Drinks
Yorkshire

The Lindores Distilling Co Ltd
Fife

Waulkmill Cider
Dumfries & Galloway
Rural Employee of the Year


Charlotte De Ville
Bert's Barrow

John Horsfield
Harrison Spinks Beds Ltd

Team Williams
William's Den
The North
Our largest region, the North encompasses the wild majesty of the Scottish Highlands and the picturesque rolling countryside of the Yorkshire Dales, dramatic windswept coastlines of Northumberland and the glittering tranquillity of the Lakes. Our northern businesses often embody the same intrepid spirit and down-to-earth friendliness that characterises their region.
The North covers rural businesses in Scotland, Northumberland, Cumbria, Durham, Tyne & Wear, North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Isle of Man and Cheshire.
Brand Ambassadors for the North
Our Regional Brand Ambassadors work with us to understand and communicate with the rural businesses operating within their region, helping us to achieve our vision of bringing together businesses in each region to celebrate success and build valuable relationships amongst rural business owners.

Kate Balchin
T.Mellor and Son
T.Mellor and Son is based on our fourth generation family farm and comprises the following businesses – Wold Top Brewery – brews award winning ales using home grown wheat and water from the farm’s borehole; Agricola Bottling – a specialist beer and spirits bottling business and Muddy Souls Events – a weddings, events and party venue.
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Hunmanby Grange, home to T Mellor and Son is a farm high on the Yorkshire Wolds where the hills roll down to the North Sea.
Our family has farmed 600 acres high on the Yorkshire Wolds for generations. With revenue from traditional income streams falling in the early 2000s, we concluded that diversification was a necessity.
Our first diversification was a brewery where we profited from the fact that our area boasts some of the best land for growing barley in Europe. Next came a specialist bottling business to service the brewery and the final diversification business is a wedding and events venue that takes advantage of our stunning rural location, National Garden Scheme garden and our beer to create a very unique experience.
We are proud to brew our award-winning beer using 98% British ingredients and that 95% of the barley comes from our own farm.
The brewery is housed in a sympathetically converted barn. We can guarantee that we only get our own barley back because we negotiated a deal with Flamborough maltsters, Muntons (almost within sight of the farm and brewery) whereby they malt our barley by the lorry load. For us it hugely reduces transport and associated costs and for them it means that they can look after the smallest customer on their doorstep, thus creating a true rural partnership between large and small businesses.
We nurture the environment that rewards us with both quality ingredients and a beautiful home. The farm is part of Stewardship schemes with Natural England and our 35 acres of species rich chalk grassland that is home to varied flora and fauna is of paramount ecological importance. We are also proud to be working with the RSPB to promote the varied birdlife on the farm.
We lead by example and the green ethos is firmly embedded in our business and embraced by staff as a matter of course. They appreciate that they are blessed to work in such a beautiful environment and that we’re all responsible for maintaining and sustaining it. Some of our staff bike to work regularly and two even run to the office!
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Darren Marcangelo
herdysleep
Launched in February 2017, herdysleep is the first mattress of its kind to combine the luxury of craftsmanship with the compact convenience of a bed-in-a-box. Traditionally tufted and finished by hand, each mattress contains up to an industry leading 6,000 pocket springs, topped with a cloud-like blend of cotton, cashmere and wool from local Herdwick sheep.
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Founded by Lake District brand Herdy in collaboration with luxury British mattress makers, Harrison Spinks, the Cumbrian herdysleep brand champions both luxurious comfort and social responsibility. Committed to keeping a rural heritage trade alive, herdysleep pledged to pay the local Lake District farmers twice the market rate for each kilo of Herdwick wool it buys. It takes a year to farm a Herdwick fleece and there’s at least one that goes into each herdysleep mattress.
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