Something different in the woods

The pair came here in 1993, with their then three-year-old daughter Jess. They had decided to swap the corporate lifestyle of banking and financial services for

the more sedate rural surroundings of 100 acres in the Yorkshire Dales.

"We were bored with it," says Ann. "We had done well, but we made a decision that we would look for somewhere as a retirement property, somewhere I could go and do a little bit of farming and David could carry on with his music. It had been very intense what we were doing, working for Citibank.

"David was number one in the company for two years and we were working as a husband and wife team which has its own pressures. We wanted something different."

Ann had no background in farming. Her father was a police officer and her mother bred dogs.

She had kept horses but that's as far as her experience went. However, she soon learned and established not just a pig herd but also a business selling their produce.

What started as a retirement project has today become far more than that for the Kielys. Over the past 20 years they have seized various opportunities which have come their way. They have purchased a mill, cottages and a now thriving licensed business.

The tipis are useful eye-catchers to entice more visitors but Ann and David now have a number of enterprises to ensure their overall business is profitable.

David says: "You build your dreams as you go along, so that you make them come true. You work towards your goals. That's what we've always done. We have always thought, if we like that we will go for it."

Ann runs a rare breed pigs business and markets her own produce as Happy Pig Pork, which has received accreditation from Rick Stein. They own Yore Mill, a four-storey Grade II listed building, and its cottages by the River Ure; and they also run The Falls caf.

David Kiely was a member of The Marauders, a band which played the Cavern Club in Liverpool. They made it into the charts in 1963 with a number called That's What I Want and his singing career saw him supporting Eddie Cochran, The Beatles, Jerry Lee Lewis and Cilla Black.

It was during this time that the tipi idea first took root. "I was in the States on tour with Roy Orbison during the US bicentennial year in 1976 and really was taken with the tipis when I visited the site of a Sioux tribe. I read up about them and found out all I could."

The idea lodged in his head for many years before an opportunity arose. "A Millennium grant became available through the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust to plant more trees in Wensleydale and we decided to plant 11,500 in the bottom 30 acres below the bridge. The wood was started in 1998 and now the trees are 20 feet high."

St Joseph's Wood was opened by Chris Bonington in 1999. It is next to the ancient coppiced woodland known as Freeholder's Wood next to Aysgarth Falls. It offered the perfect setting for David's long-maturing scheme derived from the Sioux.

"The wood is ideal because it is secluded yet has sufficient clearings to erect the tipis. They are very warm inside and can easily sleep up to eight adults."

"What we offer is a groundsheet inside," adds Ann. "Inside the tipi you can light a fire and there is a lining which causes a draft for the smoke to go out of the top. You open the top to let the smoke out. We've had university students, ramblers, children's parties and we have a party of 30 vets coming soon.

"'We're not aiming for it to be a commercial site, so we're not into intensification. It provides another interest factor for coming here and helps with everything else we're doing."

The mini Indian reservation is the fastest growing section of the Kielys' business although it is only a small part overall. Ann also has plans to open a new attraction later this year – the Happy Piggy Park Visitor Centre for school parties and others by appointment. She is presently restocking her rare breed herd with Tamworths, Large Whites, Middle Whites and Landraces.

"Our business is now roughly 50/50 between here at The Falls and the farm enterprise. We have a motto as far as work is concerned – 'if you're not doing well enough, you're not working hard enough'. We're working hard here."