If a new year is making you itch to try something new, take a leaf out of Naomi Newton’s book. She’s the new village shopkeeper in rural Farndale
‘I actually feel like I am a character in a book,’ says Naomi Newton. ‘I read novels like this all the time where a woman goes off somewhere really remote and opens up a little shop and becomes part of a new community. Now, I literally am that person!’
Naomi really is at the heart of the community having taken on the role of community shopkeeper at the Farndale Store in September. The former head of catering at Castle Howard made a life-changing decision to leave her home and life back in Helmsley to move to the rural dale.
‘I had worked at Castle Howard for 16 years and absolutely loved it,’ explains Naomi. ‘I enjoyed my time there but it got to the point where I thought: “I need to go while I’m at the top of my game and try something new”. I then worked in a clothes shop for four years which I also loved. Then, some friends saw the Farndale Store job advertised in The Lady and couldn’t wait to tell me as they thought it would be perfect for me.’
The Farndale Estate, which owns the store, also thought she was perfect and she was offered the job, meaning Naomi and her 13-year-old son, Michael, packed their bags and headed to the dale to start a new life.
After just a few months in Farndale, Naomi and Michael have settled right into country life. ‘This just gives us both a lovely way of life,’ says Naomi. ‘The ethos of the estate is incredible and that is what I bought into – they really do want to restore the dale for future generations.’
Farndale, in the heart of the North York Moors National Park, is home to 180 residents. Famous for its annual spring display of wild daffodils, it offers a bucolic beauty all year round. For the past 20 years it has been without a local shop but that has all changed with the opening of Farndale Store.
A former derelict building in the hamlet of Low Mill is now the village shop with accommodation attached and it is something straight out of a luxury homes magazine.
With stone walls and muted green tones inside, the store is lined with shelf after shelf of food, drinks and gifts as well as essentials, leaving customers spoilt for choice.
Much of the produce on sale is locally sourced, both from within Farndale Estate itself, along with goods from across North Yorkshire. Aberdeen Angus beef is on sale from a tenant farmer on the Estate as well as heather honey from a local beekeeper.
Open seven days a week, the store also has an alcohol licence and stocks an impressive range of beers, wine, gin and whisky – most of
