While there are advantages to operating a business in a town or city, high costs can eat away at profits. A rural base can make a good alternative, especially for entrepreneurs looking to swap the hustle and bustle for a calmer way of life. Here, business owners from across the UK discuss the benefits and challenges of their countryside surroundings
Go where the customers are
Red Paddle Co makes inflatable stand-up paddle boards, tapping into the huge growth that the sport has experienced recently.
It is based a few miles from Totnes in rural south Devon, near the sea. “We’re surrounded by some of the best paddle-boarding locations, allowing us to test and develop our products locally,” says co-founder John Hibbard.
The suitability of the location also helps with staff recruitment. “Our staff tend to be big lovers of the water and would much rather live and work here than in a city,” Hibbard notes.
On the downside, communication and transport links can be a frustration. “With a growing business, we need an ever more capable internet connection, which has been a challenge,” he says.
“We also spend a lot of time travelling around the world and, while the transport links to London are good, it’s hard landing after a 12-hour flight with another four hours ahead to get home. It’s all worthwhile though, when you get back in time to watch the sunset from the cliff tops.”
Recruitment and retention
Transport links and communications are often cited as reasons not to move out of town. Jeff Hardman, Chair of the Institute of Directors in Cheshire, supports a number of rural members and says: “Connectivity and technology can be a real barrier for rural organisations.”
But the challenges that surround recruitment and retention can often overshadow these.
When Ruth Woodley and her husband left London to take over The Plowden Arms pub in Henley-on-Thames, they immediately ran into staffing issues. “We’re three years in, and have yet to appoint a full team,” Woodley says. “Our estimated spend on recruiters so far is £11,000, and that’s mainly on chefs.
“Our location is our business. But we do sometimes have the ‘what if we’d stayed in London and bought a pub there?’ discussion after a hard, short-staffed shift.”
Xanthella can attract the staff but struggles to keep them. The small industrial design company, based at the European Marine Science Park near Oban in west Scotland, manufactures photobioreactors.
Although science specialists are common here, they tend to come to the area specifically for this type of work. This means there is often a lack of opportunities for other family members. “No matter how enthusiastic the new recruit, if their partners do not move with them it’s impossible to hold onto them,” says Dr Douglas MacKenzie, Xanthella’s chief executive.
Access to funds
One of the advantages of the remote location is that there is less competition for local funding, making it relatively easy to obtain. For Xanthella, “local development agencies such as Highlands and the Islands Enterprise (HIE) give you disproportionately more attention than would be the case in a city,” MacKenzie says.
Primrose’s Kitchen, a natural foods business in Rampisham, Dorset, has also benefited from local money.
Founder Primrose Matheson started the company at home, before expanding into a factory in the surrounding countryside. She has found the running costs are much lower than if she’d stayed in the city. “There are lots of rural grants available to help support growth,” she says. “And the rents are low per square foot too.”
Battling the elements
Johnsons of Whixley is a family-run plant nursery between Harrogate and York in North Yorkshire. The stock is grown on 150 acres – space which has proven relatively cheap and the company has benefited from lower agricultural rates. It’s been an ideal spot to grow the business.
“Our location is both stunning and practical, a perfect springboard for reaching all corners of the UK,” says Managing Director Graham Richardson.
But there have been issues. The local climate takes its toll, with “conditions that are increasingly variable and extreme: torrential rain, record plant-destroying cold spells, or drought,” Richardson says.
Sue Cooper, co-owner of Little Valley Brewery, on the Pennine moorland of Cragg Vale, near Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, has used the unpredictable weather to her advantage.
“Our brewery is wind-powered and we are in a prime location for this”, she says. “Water is a vital ingredient in the brewing process and the water quality here is second to none.
“We do occasionally have issues with accessibility, particularly when the snow hits. But the challenges of our location do not outweigh the benefits. The wonderful scenery encourages customers to call in at our shop.”
Making connections
The weather can be a challenge in Wales too. But without the high levels of rain, the countryside wouldn’t be so green, which in itself attracts huge volumes of tourists every year.
Tynrhyd Retreat provides luxury holiday accommodation in Devil’s Bridge, at the foot of the Cambrian Mountains in mid Wales. It was the rural idyll that originally tempted owners Sian and Gareth Price to leave their own well-paid city jobs and return to their roots, for a better quality of life for their family.
“Although we’re remote, we’re only 15 minutes from the seaside town of Aberystwyth (which has direct trains to Birmingham) and nearby sandy beaches,” Sian says.
Access occasionally can be a problem, but Tynrhyd has turned it into a positive by joining forces with vintage steam train The Vale of Rheidol to offer guests something a bit different. “We’ve seen a huge benefit from working with other businesses to arrange tailor-made packages,” she says.
In tight communities, the bonds between small businesses can be much stronger. Rebecca Caplan, co-founder of Fitique, a women’s fitness boutique in Alresford, near Winchester, says: “There’s a real camaraderie and business owners are very helpful towards one another. The Alresford chamber of commerce is very active in its support too.”
Keep your options open
For some, not being tied down to any one location has been the preferred approach. The Cat Doctor provides at-home veterinary care to customers in Surrey and south-west London. “We get called to everywhere from Victorian cottages to working farms scattered throughout the Green Belt,” says veterinarian Amy Bergs.
But being a mobile business does bring its own issues, particularly with practicalities such as processing non-cash payments. The team now carries a small card reader that plugs into mobile phones. “It works with the slightest hint of reception, which is great for rural locations,” Berg says.
In the end, it’s a balance. Assuming business owners have a choice, communications, local networks, funding, banking and support should all be considered when deciding where to locate the business.
This advertisement feature is paid for and produced to a brief agreed with NatWest, sponsor of the winning new business and business essentials hubs.
