Sponsored by
Boom and busts
It's tough making a living in the countryside. But Sally Robinson has got the figures just right, as Chris Berry reports.
My Place in
the Country
Old Byland nestles peacefully in the western edge of the North York Moors, slightly north west of Rievaulx and north east of the climbing hairpin bends of Whitestonecliffe.
It's not exactly where you would expect to find a retail empire. The village itself looks akin to a scene from Calendar Girls or Heartbeat, although with a slightly tousled and more weatherbeaten look to it, and it could yet be used on film to tell the story of Sally Robinson, the farmer's wife who has built a business out of busts.
Twenty years ago it would have been impossible for Sally to even contemplate that she could be running what must now rank as one of the leading bra retailing companies in the UK. The internet was something talked about as though it were a character from outer space and Sally was busy raising a family, helping husband John on the farm and starting up a B&B business.
Now her Ample Bosom company has led to state-of-the-art premises in what used to be a cart shed and pig house, she has over 50,000 customers worldwide, and recently won the Entrepreneur Award at the Yorkshire Women of the Year presentation. Her idea was all about giving women, with bust sizes that department stores don't generally stock, the ideal place to go to find what they need. Interestingly though, it was someone who worked for her that set the ball rolling in Sally's mind.
Over the years Sally has run a B&B from the farm, a caf and had holiday cottages – all a far cry from what she is doing now, but if she hadn't been responsible for these, the idea may never have come about.
"Back in 1997 we were looking for something else to do. We'd had a caf at the top of Sutton Bank for five years on a tenancy. That came to an end and I didn't want to do it again. On a nice warm day you needed a lot of staff and if it was pouring down with rain you needed no staff so I finished with that.
"I had thought that mail order would be good to move into and I wondered what to sell. Then a girl that worked for me wanted a bra to get married in. We sent her to a corset shop to be fitted but she didn't like that, so she looked on the internet. All she could find were red ones, leather ones and plastic. She said that I should sell bras, and I thought, yes I should. Half the nation wears them, they're not going to go out of fashion, let's have a go. And that's how we started."
Lest you should think that words like state-of-the-art mean that success has gone to Sally's head and that the Robinsons are any different to how they have always been, let me tell you that we are sitting around Sally and husband John's wooden kitchen table, in the same surroundings they have been in for many years. This is still a working farm and they don't talk funny just because Sally is running a business with worldwide connections.
Indeed she is also keen to thank all the women from fellow farming operations who have bought from her. "I think it is so important that all farming families support each other when they are attempting new ideas."
Her original idea of supplying those with bigger busts has now widened to encompass all bra wearers, but she retains her commitment to the those with larger busts. "We've now got 177 different sizes– that's more sizes than anyone else." Sally is at pains to point out to me that this really is sizes, not makes.
"Sometimes we don't shout that out enough. We start at a 28 (looking after those with the smaller bust too, who also don't find it easy to find the right size in shops and department stores) and go through to a 56. We start at double A cups and go through to Js, double Js and Ks."
Sally encourages her customers to make multiple bookings and send back those that are unsuitable. She also knows that for years many women will have carried on wearing something that isn't suitable and often isn't comfortable.
"There are certain times in your life when you need a bit of a sort-out with the type and size of bra you're wearing. There's your first bra, then the one you get married in, then nursing bras. After that most women seem to forget about their bra, in terms of size and type, until their children are through school, and that's when they have another major sort-out.
"Until then we all seem to trundle along until it becomes really uncomfortable."
"It's important to feel comfortable, and the right kind of bra can make you feel a lot more confident in yourself."
Ample Bosom has grown to the extent that Sally now employs six full-timers and part-time staff, but with that comes additional responsibility.
Is it now more of a headache than when she started? "It is, but I quite like the problems. All the computers crashed this morning. But it's quite a challenge to become a slicker operation and compete with such as the big boys of this world. We update our website catalogue daily and three times a year we put together a whole new catalogue. We're currently saving up for a much improved website."
Harbour Pictures, the production company behind Calendar Girls, approached Sally to make a film about her business story in spring 2000. "We signed a contract for the film to be made and Jason Sutton, who has written for The Bill wrote the script, which we still have, but Tony Blair altered all the rules on tax breaks for theatre and film and so they couldn't find anyone to fund it."
Sally tells that they did receive money for signing the contract but that it wasn't as exciting as getting the contract itself.
She tells everything from the viewpoint of still being a farmer's wife who is enjoying herself with every new experience.
"It gets me out of Old Byland a lot. I've been to a Royal garden party, I've been to a film premiere, I've been a guest speaker up in Glasgow and I've spoken with Muriel Grey the TV presenter. That was quite good."
John isn't fazed by his wife's success either. He still farms their 200 acre cereals, sheep and beef farm as he has always done, but he does keep abreast of what Sally's business is doing.
Email to a friend
Print this page- Leeds lose Ward to Palace: Is there anyone they can afford now?
- Sheffield Wednesday leaving it late to hijack Leeds United over Ward
- As Snodgrass dithers over Leeds, Warnock throws a lifeline
- Ball is in Leeds United’s court over contract - Snodgrass
- Police turning blind eye to Asian voter fraud, says MP
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
