Daring to Diversify: ‘We run the 18th oldest business in the world’

On any given day, Chris Wright leaps out of bed and finds himself immersed in a slice of British history. He might while away the hours at his farm shop in the grounds of 14th Century Powderham Castle near Exeter. Or overseeing flour production at the Otterton Mill estate 25 minutes away – the 18th oldest business in the world.

Running operations at the two sites, Chris says, is a privilege he hasn’t taken for granted since he and his wife Carol first dipped their toes in the retail arena, becoming tenants at Otterton in 2015.

Found off a sleepy lane in East Devon, the site is home to the working mill, a bakery, an arts and crafts centre, a cafe and a farm shop…and hosts regular outdoor events in summer.

“Milling here is recorded in the Domesday Book,” says Chris, who adds milling would have taken place at Otterton well before that. “And we mill in exactly the same way today. I love it. My office is over 500 years old!”

It’s a popular place, Otterton. Cherished by locals and tourists alike. And that’s what drew Chris, who had a long background in tourism, in. Taking on the challenge of this site felt like, he says, a natural progression at an opportune time. “Another business we were running at was winding down – and who wouldn’t have a business like this?”

The family’s mantra from the start has been to approach the farm shop and its satellite operations gently. The farm shop was rebuilt three years ago, after they managed to secure some European funding to improve the facilities but, other than that, Otterton has had just a few small ‘adjustments’ that make a big impact.

Chris is acutely aware he is purely a custodian of this place. “When we’re talking about thousands of years, our tenure is nothing. We have to view this as our little bit of time at this site.”

While the previous owners had taken a step back from operations, Chris and his family were keen to get ‘stuck in’ from day one, with a truly hands-on approach.

“When we arrived we wanted to become part of the team and to gain their trust as much as anything else. The first thing they let me do in the kitchen was cut some butter,” he laughs.

Turning the wheels of history

Otterton’s ancient watermill is a precious part of the site, and still operates today, producing excellent quality, nutrient-rich stoneground flour, which finds its way into the bakery, shop and cafe. 

“We have a farmer we work with in West Bexington on the Jurassic Coast,” says Chris. “He grows an ancient grain that we supplement with a higher protein grain we buy locally. We mix the two to give us the flour that we want. It’s very distinctive. The rest of our flour comes from an organic producer.”

They’re quite a romantic thing, watermills. And Otterton’s attracts quite a crowd thanks to its historic importance. Visitors are welcome to wander around the outside of the mill on a self-guided walk of the site, with volunteers drafted in twice a month on milling days when the wheels crank into action.

“It’s wonderful to see,” says Chris, who adds that shoppers and on-site diners can’t get enough of goodies made using the flour…skilfully crafted in the bakery. There are loaves of granary, wholemeal, spelt, white and sourdough bread. Speciality loaves such as a Spanish bread infused with olive oil, are available too, alongside quirky bakes, such as crab buns, shaped like…crabs.

That’s not to mention the hundreds of scones which leave the ovens each day, or a delightful line-up of traybakes and cakes, from carrot cake and brownies, to traditional Devon cider apple cake, and Coast Path Cake – a very rich fruit cake infused with Otterton’s own beer.

“And we get hammered at Christmas and Easter. We have to make thousands of mince pies and handmade hot cross buns to keep up with demand,” Chris adds.

Adding value

When the Wrights landed at Otterton, the farm shop sold little more than a few eggs and other bits and pieces. Once rebuilt, they knew bringing it back to life would require a lot of work. And now “you can buy pretty much everything here. Everything fights for its space,” Chris says, working on the premise that ‘more is more’ in retail.

An abundance of stock, and packing the shelves regularly, has made the farm shop a more reliable stopping point for local people especially, who know they can pop in not just for bread, but for milk, eggs, cheese, meat and more. Though Chris has been careful to avoid mimicking what the local community shop has to offer.

“Our key lines, apart from our bread, are our own sausage rolls and quiches. And we can’t make enough Scotch eggs to keep up! There are cakes from the bakery. Cornish Sea Salt makes fudge for us. And we have a fair bit of deli items and alcohol.” This includes Otterton’s own gin – OMG – made using the mill’s wheat, and plants foraged in the grounds.

With space limited, Chris says it’s important to consider what gets its moment in the spotlight in the farm shop. But adds smaller retailers like himself shouldn’t be afraid to take a punt on something new. “Price points are important, but you can’t beat yourself up if you make a mistake and something doesn’t sell. This market is great for new suppliers, and we need to champion then and give them a try.”

If you happen to be lucky enough to have your own bakery or cafe, cross-promotion is key to success as well. “One thing we do is, there’s loads of different chutney and jam people, and some are very generic and available in lots of farm shops. We try to have ones that are, perhaps, more specific to Devon, and we use a lot of them in our cafe. So, if you had a beef sandwich today, it would come with some form of red onion marmalade. If you like that, you can buy it in the shop, and also buy the bread and the butter!”

A destination for dining

Otterton’s cafe is a big draw – helped by the fact it has awards under its belt. The menu is based around local, fresh produce, and taps into what is coming out of the bakery – something customers hugely appreciate. 

“Bread is baked in the morning at 4am (about 70 to 80 loaves a day) and they have it in the kitchen to use from 9.30am when we open. The meat comes from our own butchery at Powderham, fish is from Brixham, coffee is from a guy two miles down the stream. We’re very much a destination and, for our footprint, we are very very busy. On a good day we will do 200 covers at lunch and lots of cream teas in the afternoon. If you make a good scone you can’t go wrong!”

Retaining customers

Chris is keenly aware Otterton’s location is ‘off the beaten track’, so once customers are on site retaining them, increasing dwell time and buying opportunities, is crucial to the business’s ongoing success.

“We’re a small place, easily missed from the road,” he says. “But if you come in off the road you’ll see a lot is going on. It’s a bit of a hidden gem. We’ve got a good reputation locally and a very strong following. Lots of people who live in the village, when they have friends and family down, will come to the mill.” When you operate in a rural spot you have to keep “working on that reputation and making it somewhere people want to come back to.”

Chris brings international musicians, many of them from the States, to Devon during the summer, for a series of incredibly popular outdoor gigs, which have a defined impact on footfall.

And having an art gallery and craft centre is a boom too. “They are a major part of our business and not a small operation,” he explains. “We have at least 150 artists in there, selling everything from bracelets and paintings to ceramics. It’s a good reason to come here, because it’s not stuff you’ll be able to buy on the internet. A lot of it comes from the local area and the wider South-West, and our customers love that.”

Getting people in the door is, “hard work, building on what we do year-on-year”. And you must be consistent for success, Chris stresses. “Some days you’ll think, ‘we probably didn’t make a lot of money today’, but you have to be open and be consistent, and build that reliability in the back of people’s minds. They need to know they can come here and we’ll be open, come rain or shine.”

Reigning at the castle

Powderham castle is more than 600 years old. The current resident earl’s ancestors were involved in the French Revolution. It’s a phenomenal estate, with a farm shop, country stores and other outlets. And it’s proved the perfect location for the Wright family to share their experience, having taken on the farm shop and its bistro in 2023.

“We happened to be out having coffee over there and for whatever reason, I looked on social media to see it had become available,” Chris says. “At the time I was probably looking for more of a challenge. It’s a fantastic site, with huge potential.”

Just a short drive from Otterton, Powderham shares a rich and varied history with the mill location, but has a very different dynamic in terms of customer base. While Otterton is almost hidden, Powderham enjoys a key location off a main road, and attracts droves of ready-made customers, visiting for weddings, mediaeval weekends, jousting events and to hear the dulcet tones of acts such as Tom Jones. 

“It had taken a bit of a hit in the six months prior to completion of sale,” Chris admits. “We wanted to rebuild it as another visitor destination, and for it to have a positive reflection of the castle. We’ve worked in a bit of what we do at Otterton, and the bistro was rather complex in its operation, so we’ve simplified that too. We’re getting great feedback.”

Running both sites allows the teams to put best practice into action across them, is fantastic for cross-promotion, and works from a supply chain point of view too. Meat from Powderham’s butchery counter (including the estate’s fallow deer) is dropped at Otterton, while Otterton’s bread, bakes, savouries and cakes are delighting diners and shoppers at Powderham.

There has been the opportunity for staff to crossover locations as well. “We have people that work in both sites,” explains Chris. “That gives us the opportunity to see what works and what doesn’t, to share ideas, and to have the same approach across them.”

Running both sites isn’t phasing Chris, who says he is excited, and relishes everything they do. The only challenge, as throughout the industry, is staffing. “Hospitality has taken a hit in the last few years. It’s a constant thing,” he says. “But I’m still glad we took the decision to do this last year, and I have to remind myself that we haven’t had it a year yet. We need to be a little more patient managing our expectations!”