Case study: High House Farm, Matfen

For Steve and Sally Urwin, of High House Farm, at Matfen, Northumberland, brewing is more than a way of utilising old buildings or making best use of its crop. It has breathed new life into a business that was threatened with extinction.

The Urwins never planned to become brewers and were happy running the 200-acre farm, where they grew wheat and barley, reared a beef herd and kept 150 sheep. But in 2001 foot and mouth struck, and they needed a new way to make a living.

With a footpath to Hadrian's Wall running through the farm, the Urwins were already used to visitors hiking across their yard. And a lovely yard it is too, with its Victorian stone buildings and glorious Northumbrian hillside setting. These natural advantages prompted the Urwins not just to install a brewery and join the scramble for local free trade. Instead, they decided to share everything with the tourists who flock to the region.

And what an attraction they've created - there's scarcely a whistle or bell that High House lacks. As well as its brewery and farm tours, there's an exhibition

of brewing and the farm's history; a café; a shop selling High House beers such as the golden-coloured Nel's Best, Auld Hemp, a traditional bitter, and locally-made food; and a bar and function room.

All this cost the Urwins £300,000. Soon after opening, in April 2003, High House was named Rural Retailer of the Year in the Countryside Alliance Diversification Awards and won bronze in the North-East England Tourism Awards. And while the Urwins had reckoned on 3,500 visitors in their first year, they actually saw more than 9,000, despite abysmal weather.

High House, then, is the complete antithesis of the technical and commercial specialism that drove brewing off the farm. Others are bound to follow suit.