I’m sure many people have watched the new series of All Creatures Great and Small and seen the beautiful farmstead at the foot of the fells with the famous red post box which plays Helen’s Farm (officially Heston Grange). It is a location that well before the TV series I used to stop and photograph with the juxtaposition of the bright red box standing out vividly against the green of the fellsides and greys of the limestone buildings and dry stone walls.
The location is actually Yockenthwaite Farm, just past Hubberholme in Langstrothdale.
I now often stop briefly with guests whilst taking people around the Dales on my tours, but had noticed in many farm shops and Dales stores the image of the farm on packets of cereal – particularly Yockenthwaite Farm Granola.
I like my granola for breakfast (and so does my wife), but had often found many brands artificially sweet, so reading the NOT SO SWEET messaging on the packaging I Invested in a packet of the Fruity Nutty variety.
I was hooked and it was gone in days. So as well as deciding to try some of the other types, I thought it was worth exploring a bit further for my blog.
Yockenthwaite Farm is owned by the Hird family, their family having owned the farm since 1842. The family are 5th generation hill sheep farmers and as they say on their website “we know a thing or two about a hard day’s work and just what’s needed to fuel it”.
What started as a slight diversification to supplement their farm income has become a new passion for the family business.
Many farms in the Dales, have had to diversify and create new income streams. You will see farm shops, ice cream parlours and camping pods at farms as you drive around. The Hird’s started a small farmhouse bed and breakfast business and as part of this they came up with their own granola recipe in 2004 just to provide breakfast to the paying guests at the farm.
The trigger for opening a bed and breakfast business was the Foot and Mouth Epidemic and the need to attract guests back to the Dale. As well as providing hearty local fayre for guests such as local leg of lamb for dinner or a full Yorkshire breakfast, they also offered guests their home made granola.
On their website they explain how from these simple beginnings guests started asking for bags to take home and then contacting them to send them more as they had become addicted!
Their next step was making some extra and taking 45 bags to Grassington Farmer’s market where they were all sold before lunchtime apparently.
Granola production increased and sadly it became too much to run the Bed and Breakfast as well as the Granola business as a family at the same premises.
The Hird family were manufacturing three quarters of a ton of granola a week in their small back kitchen, there was apparently granola everywhere. They needed a bespoke place to manufacture and so invested in moving production to an industrial unit in Skipton which also provided storage and office space.
Today the family are still farming in Yockenthwaite, but their Granola business has become a big success with new flavours being added to their range as well as Porridge and Museli (they also make a supply a great runny honey).
In terms of ingredients the granola versions all use oats, which they roll fresh themselves prior to cooking as this adds flavour and nutritional benefits. The flour they use is wheat or wholegrain spelt, not processed and great for providing energy. These are bound together with a mix of raw honey and olive oil. The cereals are not full of processed ingredients, the different varieties being created by the addition of natural ingredients.
I’ve since tried the original Real Nutty Granola – and guess what? It is really nutty and a bowl of this fills me up for a long day touring . The other favourite of mine is their Ginger Granola. This is unusual in a good way plus delicious and my wife’s new favourite and part of their Not so sweet range.
The Not so sweet range are just sweetened with raw honey. With their Original Nutty getting a bit of unrefined light muscovado sugar added.
When I tell my guests on tour about the granola business they often ask where they can buy it and many a tourist has left the Hatch if Grassington loaded with packets of the granola. I don’t do advertising on my blog, but I genuinely love this product and the interesting story behind it so felt the Hird’s product and story deserved a shout out.
I love their packaging too.
If you can’t get to the Dales and want to try it they do have an online shop.