Hollands Country Clothing, the online country clothing retailer that started on a family farm in Disley, is opening its first-ever physical store in Cheshire at Lowe's Farm Shop at Byley near Sandbach.

What began in 1978 as a way to supplement the family's farming income has grown into a £10m+ business, and it's now coming home to the Cheshire countryside, in partnership with another local farming family, the Lowes, who've farmed the same land for six generations

The family business began selling Wellingtons to supplement a farming income has opened its first-ever physical shop, finding a home on a working Cheshire farm.

For approaching 200 years the Holland family have farmed the land on the Cheshire/ Derbyshire border on Disley Hall Farm, where local legend even claims a visit from the Black Prince, lost in a snowstorm on his way to nearby Lyme Hall.

But farming alone has never been an easy living, and in 1978 Malcolm Holland looked for ways to diversify, deciding to supplement his income from selling hay at Chelford Agricultural Centre with a few pairs of Wellingtons.

Overalls and wax coats soon followed (along with the odd wrong turn, including a job lot of army surplus shirts that turned out, on closer inspection, to be skirts!)

Before long, clothing outsold farming altogether, and the next generation grew the business from around 35 orders a day, packed by hand around Grandma Mavis's kitchen table, to now nearly 6,000 per day in winter.

The next test arrived in 2001, in the form of the foot-and-mouth crisis that shut down the country shows and markets Hollands relied on.

With a substantial amount of night school trips from Mark Holland the family made the jump and the very first Hollands' website was built.

Two decades on, that homemade website has grown into a business turning over more than £10 million a year, and now, for the first time, a shop customers can walk into.

The new store is at Lowe's Farm Shop, a destination with its own long farming history. The Lowe family have been growing vegetables on the same Cheshire land for six generations.

What began much like Hollands, with market stalls at Middlewich and Crewe, grew into a proper farm shop in 2001, and today the site is also home to the Ginger & Pickles tearoom, an award-winning butcher, and eleven independent Cheshire businesses. ,

Matt Holland, Managing Director, William Swindells Limited said: "I am exceptionally proud of the new store opening at Lowe's Farm, as it is something which I have wanted to do for many years."

Sarah Holland, Director, said: "'Our connection to the countryside goes back generations, and there's something really special about being able to welcome people into a physical space that reflects that, rather than just a screen."

Graham Lowe, Lowe's Farm Shop, said: "Hollands bring something new for visitors to discover, and that's exactly what we want this place to be about."

Hollands Country Clothing will mark the store's opening with a launch celebration next Friday (25th September) from 12 noon until 3 pm.

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