A FARM shop has increased the size of its cheese shop.

The Courtyard Dairy on the A65 near Austwick has increased the size of it's cheese shop.

The award winning shop owned by Andy Swinscoe and his wife originally occupied a space of just 16 square metres, before expanding into the former Yorkshire Dales Falconry Centre.

The newly enlarged shop now employs 20 people but due to a rapid growth in business, the bigger shop became too small.

“More cheese and fewer queues” was owner Andy Swinscoe’s aim, he said: “We’re proud to have grown here within Settle over the last nine years whilst our business has been supporting and championing unique artisan-made farm-cheese.

“The pandemic initially hit us hard and trade dropped dramatically, but by diversifying and tweaking and finding new markets we have managed to keep going and recently have seen our business start to grow in the same way as it did before the pandemic.

"Our latest development has seen us enlarge the shop substantially, so that we now have more space to mature, display and offer for sale our fabulous cheeses whilst ensuring that we maintain a safe distance between customers in this continuing pandemic.

"We can now serve more sets of customers at the same time whilst still giving them our renowned tailored service, guiding them through the new and different cheeses we offer that are still made by small British family farms.”

The enlargement of the shop is the first phase of extensive plans to improve the business, which in 2022 will see the construction of a unique underground maturing cellar along with a new cheese museum and space for events and catering, all with magnificent views towards Ingleborough.