A South Lakes entrepreneur has launched an innovative online shopping and home delivery food and drink service designed to support the local economy and be kinder to the environment.
A Day’s Walk, based near Cartmel, has been set up by Colin Sneath, who is passionate about the Lake District area and wants to do all he can to promote its local food and drink producers.
“Every item we stock comes from a local farmer, grower, producer or business within a day’s walk of the business” said Colin, 57.
“That means it is fresh, clocks up next to no food miles and is some of the best food and drink in the land. Every time people shop with us, they are supporting the local economy, being kinder to the environment and reaffirming their special connection with this beautiful place, its people and traditions.”
The idea for A Day’s Walk came when Colin noticed that some food and drink products sold in Lakeland and promoted as ‘local’ actually came from other parts of the region.
“The name A Day’s Walk is referencing a simpler time in days gone by when ‘local’ was easier to understand,” said Colin, who has a background in retail and marketing and whose love of the Lake District was sparked by youth hostelling and walking trips in his teens.
“People would describe somewhere as ‘no more than a day’s walk from here’ to demonstrate that it was reachable and therefore within their economic and social sphere.”
Selling such local produce ensured wealth remained within the local economy, food was fresher and food miles were reduced, which helped the environment, said Colin.
There were also benefits in terms of animal welfare. “One of our producer partners is Aireys at Ayside, a farmer and family butcher that has been on the same site for almost 200 years. They farm Herdwicks which have Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status and the livestock on the farm are born there, raised on the Cumbrian fells and taken to the abbatoir there. There’s none of the highly stressful travel by road in trucks experienced in the global food chain – in fact they travel no distance at all.”
He added: “We recognise that while a lot of people might be keen to shop local, we need to deliver a level of convenience that people have grown used to. So people can choose items, order, make changes to the order if necessary and book a delivery slot, six days a week directly from our website www.adayswalk.co.uk
“It offers a combination of supermarket convenience with a range that is sourced from genuinely local producers.
“Food traceability is also important to many people so our website also contains producer stories so customers can read about where their food is coming from. For example, we want people to understand when they are eating a jar of Mrs Prickett’s damson jam that Mrs Prickett has made it in her farmhouse at Hutton Roof in batches of 20 jars at a time!”
In most cases – and certainly as far as fresh food such as bread, milk and fruit and vegetables is concerned – items will be picked up from the producer and delivered the same day to customers.
The firm is a real family affair with Colin’s wife Emma and son Cameron involved, along with two drivers and an administrator.
“We will go as far as Barrow in the west, Ambleside in the north, Kirkby Lonsdale in the east and sweep up the rest of the area to Milnthorpe in the south. The reason for setting that parameter is we could reach all those places in a day’s walk,” he said. “There’s a simple postcode checker on the website where people can check whether they fall within our delivery area, but suffice to say the majority of South Lakeland is covered.”
Suppliers include Grange Bakery, South Lakes Organic Milk, Mrs Prickett’s Preserves, Aireys Butchers, The Handmade Ice Cream Company and Huttons Chocolates. “Our furthest stretch – and it would have to be a dawn till dusk walk – is Appleby Creamery, which supplies most of our cheeses,” said Colin.
“We’d love other local producers to get involved. They can contact me by email at localise@adayswalk.co.uk
“Our next phase is to start A Day’s Walk in Keswick and run the same operation for the North Lakes. Our longer-term vision is to create a franchise network, so this could roll out across the whole country.”
Colin added: “I am enormously excited by this venture. It is a dream we have had for a few years now. We absolutely believe in what we are doing and look forward to resetting everyone’s view of what local is for the benefit of the local economy. Lakeland is our Larder, we have all we need right here on our doorstep.”
