Sure enough, when Mark Rooke appears it's not a moment before he's offering a viewing of his pride and joy.

Enthusiasm and alternative ideas drive the couple's business at Beadlam Grange, near Helmsley, North Yorkshire.

Mark first saw the £12,500 Danish wood-burning boiler at a Lincolnshire show and was so impressed he kept the details in a safe place "just in case". It was only a matter of time.

Although it will happily burn logs, the Rooke family mostly fuels the 75-kilowatt machine with what's known as 'post-consumer wood', made from items such as windows, door frames, kitchens and tables taken to waste collection points and recycled into tinder-dry woodchips. With rising oil costs, the initial outlay is looking even more of a good idea – with it costing just £2 a day to heat and provide hot water for farmhouse, shop and tea rooms, in the winter; dropping to 70p a day during the summer months.

Water supply is another requirement they have found an alternative solution to. Over 15 years ago, the authorities put a test borehole 65m down into the limestone under the farm. It cost just £1,000 to fix a pump into it and wipe out a water bill of £860 a quarter.

For three years, the 300-acre farm has taken 50 tons of green waste every fortnight from Ryedale District Council. It is basically the contents of the brown (garden waste) dustbins. The farm is paid for taking the waste, reflecting the authority's saving on taking it 30 miles to landfill in Scarborough.

Being involved has opened the Rookes' eyes to some of the difficulties of recycling. What they get is supposed to be just green waste but it has to be sifted with a forklift on arrival so the inevitable plastic and other non-biodegradables can be picked out by hand. They are considering hiring some more specialised sorting machinery, which would help grade the compostable material.

Meanwhile, it is simply piled up and left to break down for about four months and then spread on the farm fields, where it makes a useful soil conditioner, rather than a fertiliser, according to Mark.

He will not discuss the economics of the operation but says it pays "enough to cover the handling costs".

The family's 20-year-old son, Peter, is back home after studies at Bishop Burton College and having more input into the direction of the farm. The driving force behind the development of recent years has been providing Peter with a future in farming.

About 50 acres is run as arable – barley, wheat, winter beans as a break crop and fodder beet for cattle food. The rest is grassland, supporting about 70 Limousin-cross cows. Heifers are put to an Angus bull, with a Limousin used for second calvers.

It was the cattle that started the couple thinking about converting their dilapidated two-storey Grade II-listed granary, and adjoining foldyard, into a farm shop.

"We knew we were producing high-quality beef and it seemed such a shame for it to be ending up on supermarket shelves," explains Jenny.

The idea developed into a "visitor destination", where dogs are welcome and Mark's collection of vintage farm machinery and memorabilia is on display and the 'tea room' offers substantial meals as well as snacks and a wide range of products to buy.

"Without our location, just two miles out of Helmsley on a busy A-road, we wouldn't have had the confidence to go for it," admits Jenny.

The 44-seat tea room is on the top floor, next to the kitchen which doubles up as a produce factory for the shop. The shop covers the whole ground floor and the former foldyard has been turned into a continental-style courtyard with additional seating for a further 40 customers, play area and toilet block.

The couple's daughter, Helen, 23, contributed to the planning thanks to her experience as a teenage waitress and a degree in interior design.

There are 18 staff – four full-time and the rest on flexible hours. In addition to the butcher's counter, a delicatessen offers Yorkshire cheeses, patés, cooked meats, salads and quiches prepared in the on-site kitchen. Fresh bread, fruit and vegetables, are delivered daily.

The couple say membership of the National Farmers and Retail Markets Association (FARMA) was invaluable when planning the development.

"We went to lots of workshops, even looking around the farm shop at Chatsworth, and have found everybody we've met incredibly helpful," said Jenny.

"We now make a point of passing on any good tips we were given to others. It seems only fair."

Grant aid from the Rural Enterprise Scheme paid for 30 per cent of the project, the rest funded by a considerable bank loan, adding to the debt from buying the previously-tenanted farm in 1998. Without the grant, they would have gone for the shop first and the tea room later.

"We're so pleased we were able to do the two at once. They complement each other brilliantly. Everything we sell in the tearoom is available in the shop. It's amazing how many people enjoy something and then want to take the ingredients home," said Jenny

All pork and most lamb sold in the shop is sourced from local farmers. Only 30 Mule/Texel ewes were lambed at Beadlam Grange this year, falling far short of what is required. Four or five go to the abattoir each week, as well as one or two beef animals and around three pigs. Extra beef comes from neighbouring farmers when needed.

Finished animals go to a small local abattoir, one or two at a time. All carcases are hung in an on-site fridge and a butcher goes in twice a week to prepare matured carcases. Finer work with individual cuts is done in the shop by a master butcher, employed full-time.

Other diversifications at Beadlam Grange include running a self-contained part of the farmhouse as a holiday cottage, a five-van caravan site and growing 40 acres of miscanthus on contract for a local power station. Mark's parents went to the farm in 1962, moving from a small farm in Heslington, near York, to become tenants of Helmsley's Duncombe Park Estate. The first anniversary of the shop and tea room has just passed and already the Rookes are planning future developments. They held a craft fair last year, to raise money for a hospice in Scarborough, and saw a significant knock-on boost in business for their outlets. Now they are planning a harvest festival and produce auction in September.

Having started cooking pies for the shop, they also see potential for producing ready meals, utilising even more of the cheaper cuts of meat. They have noticed locals are now using them instead of the supermarkets, to save on travel.

For more information call 01439 770303 or visit ww.beadlamgrange.co.uk