A North Yorkshire farm is enjoying success by supplying bras and plus sized lingerie.
Valley View Farm, near Helmsley, a 220-acre operational family farm, is also home to thriving lingerie business, AmpleBosom and six holiday cottages onsite.
Owner Sally Robinson has created multiple income streams to futureproof the business.
A recent survey conducted by NFU Mutual revealed that 34 per cent of farmers now run a diversified business, up six per cent since 2018, highlighting the growing importance of diversification to aid the longevity of farms, provide employment opportunities in the countryside, significantly increase farmers' income and spreading their risk - something Sally Robinson began doing in Yorkshire over 25 years ago.
Valley View Farm is home to 140 British Blue and Limousin cattle for commercial markets, 40 Wagyu cattle and 500 North of England Mules crossed with Texel and Suffolk tups and supplies a butcher in the London market. It is farmed in partnership with Sally and her son Stuart.
Due to the farm’s picturesque location, Sally initially took the more traditional route of farm diversification, converting existing farm buildings into six self-catered holiday cottages, which are frequently fully booked.
In 1999 Sally Robinson then founded AmpleBosom, an online lingerie retail business after being shocked by how difficult it was for one of her employees to find a nice bra for her wedding day.
Having initially started out as a mail order business supplying plus size bras and lingerie, Ample Bosom now caters for women of all shapes and sizes and has expanded to offer customers worldwide a vast online collection of underwear, nightwear, cup size swimwear and lingerie from the world’s leading brands, with a state-of-the-art website that allows customers to search for detailed and specific attributes.
Their story featured on BBC Look North on Tuesday evening (January 7).
"We are incredibly proud to have been able to successfully diversify our farm through Ample Bosom, helping women everywhere to feel comfortable and confident, and through our holiday cottages, which allow the public to visit the beautiful Yorkshire countryside," said Sally.
"Diversification has been essential in aiding the long-term future of our farm and being innovative is what has kept us going for 25 years, and we are thrilled to be able to welcome BBC Look North to showcase what we do.”
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