Farm Of The Week: Auction hunters’ venture starts to pay off

They call it ‘upcycling’ and it’s all the rage, and for Karen and Chloe Rymer it’s a hobby turned business venture that’s fast becoming the focus at their smallholding between Harrogate and York.

While Karen’s husband George is travelling the length and breadth of the county delivering agricultural supplies such as fertilisers to farmers, she and their 21-year-old daughter Chloe are bargain hunting for antique furniture at auctions.

Often returning to their home in Kirk Hammerton with a horse box loaded full of unwanted chairs, tables, mirrors and other household fittings, the hard work then begins to repair and restore the items to their former glories, which sometimes requires a paint job and the handy DIY skills of Chloe’s boyfriend Matt.

The results of their graft are like-new, one-off furnishings fit for the home and they are sold under Chloe and Karen’s new enterprise, named Molly and Maud’s Place in honour of their two pet rescue lambs that used to graze in the orchard in their garden. They also keep two horses and a small flock of rare breed Kerry Hill sheep.

Items are advertised online via their Facebook page and a website which Chloe has put together herself, and neatly arranged in a cosy showroom next to the orchard.

Months of planning for the venture culminated in the showroom – a painted white wooden shed with decking – being put up on railway sleepers. It was opened to the public a month ago and is starting to attract a steady flow of browsers from the local village and beyond.

The mother and daughter team has bought and sold similar items over the years as a hobby, and for Chloe, her own business venture like this is the realisation of a long-held ambition. For Karen, 54, it is a project she intends to continue supporting her daughter with during a year-long hiatus from her career as a counsellor.

“Mum and dad have always been self-employed so I always knew I wanted to be too, from school, but mum said I had to work for someone else for five years to see what it’s like,” Chloe says.

“I wasn’t one for school and have always liked the outdoors.

“After college I did a ski-season and was a sailing instructor, then I worked in bars and hospitality for a few years.

“I was working on a reception desk in a hotel, I’d been doing it for a long time and was fed up and wanted a challenge so we said we will do it now or we won’t and I will get another job doing something similar.

“We’d been buying and selling antique bits and painting them for a hobby for a while and we thought why don’t we make a go of it.”

Karen said their location, just off the A59 and five miles down the road from the A1, makes it a great spot for running the business from.

“We have always been looking for ideas because we are in a great location, halfway between Harrogate and York.

“I started in interior design in the mid-80s and had a small business doing up people’s houses and furnishings. I did a degree as a mature student ten years ago and had a couple of shops in York selling soft furnishings.

“I have always been involved in house renovations and Chloe has been coming with me since she was little. She’s a serious wheeler-dealer now I would say. She’s surprised me a bit. I think she’s a better painter than me.”

This is a hands-on household. George, who has worked in haulage for 30 years, has built a garage and stables on their nine-acre plot and the ladies are now busy at work restoring furniture in the garden.

With so much to choose from at auctions, they have a very specific criteria for the kind of furniture they are looking for.

“A lot of this furniture is really solid and hard-wearing stuff – oak and mahogany. We do buy it cheaper at auction than we sell it for and I don’t mind saying so. There is a lot of time and labour involved when we get it home.”

Karen has produced a range of greetings cards, using her own wildlife photographs, and she’s taught Chloe how to make cushions – both are on sale in the showroom and online.

Early demand has been healthy with a lot of buyers based in the south of the country covering courier costs to have large furniture delivered down the motorway and they’ve even fielded enquiries from overseas. The interest sees to a quick turnover of stock to keep their showroom fresh and the ladies on their toes.

“We go to a couple of auctions every week,” says Karen.

“We were picking up from Scarborough yesterday and I had time to take the dog for a walk on the beach,” adds Chloe.

Karen says: “We want this to work from here but we are always going to be an online business.

“We have seen a lot of people from the local area drop in. The signs letting people know we are here only went up two weeks ago and last Sunday was our busiest day yet. We had a stream of people which was really nice and some of our friends came – it’s really sociable.”

In the future, Karen says they may consider introducing llamas to their land as a novel touch and opening up one of their farm buildings as a cafe serving tea and cakes, while in the summer, they intend to fill the orchard with outdoor furniture for sale.

Karen also says she likes the idea of hosting painting workshops.

“We definitely want it to expand but you have got to start somewhere,” she says.

It is too early for them to draw a wage from the business and so Chloe, who lives in nearby Whixley, takes a shift a week at her local pub, The Anchor.

“We’ve both put a lot of savings into it to buy the stock and put up the building but it’s starting to support itself now,” says Chloe.

“It’s been six months of buying stock and getting it ready,” adds Karen.

“The house was full. You couldn’t move. Every room was full of furniture so when the showroom was ready it was the biggest delight to put it in there.”