Cedarbarn Farm Shop and Café

In 2009 proprietors Karl and Mandy Avison succeeded in reaching the finals in the Tourism and Hospitality Business Of The Year category of The Press Business Awards.

Now they are trying again, this time with other major accolades under their belts.

In 2011, for the second year running, their venture earned the Best Use Of Regional Produce title in the Deliciouslyorkshire Awards, as well as Best On-Farm Café-Restaurant in the national Farm Awards.

They are also buoyed by the knowledge that they have extended the yields and season for their pick-your-own soft fruit by investing in growing tunnels and “table-top” strawberries, fed and nurtured four times a day through computer control.

These, they believe, help their case in their bid also to become the Small Business Of The Year.

It all began when the Avisons sought to diversify their activities on their farm.

Cedarbarn, a cedar-clad building, opened in 2007, where visitors could shop and browse for fresh, local or home-grown produce and buy from an ice cream parlour to eat wih their meals at picnic tables, if they did not want to sit in the café.

Then came the opening of a butcher’s shop selling the pure-bred pedigree Aberdeen Angus beef and lamb that Karl rears.

And it is a success. Both the footfall has increased and the average spend per customer has doubled.

The butchery counter doubled meat sales in 2009, increased by 30 per cent in the second year and now sales have leaped by 28 per cent.

But for all their success elsewhere, the Avisons really want to win The Press Business Awards. He says: “The competition has real clout. Winning would do us a world of good.”