Soft drinks company has a spring in its step
TWO cousins who turned their family farm into a flourishing soft drinks business are hoping to see their products in even more UK restaurants, hotels and bars in the coming months.
Joe Evans, 31, and Elizabeth Walton, 68, set up Marlish Water seven years ago at former visitor attraction Marlish Farm, near Hartburn in Northumberland, and are now supplying hundreds of hospitality venues as well as supermarket chain Booths.
The petting farm closed to visitors in 2002 in the wake of the footand-mouth disease outbreak that caused huge disruption in the UK farming sector and the family sought a diversification project.
Mr Evans – a biochemistry graduate who worked for a pharmaceutical company straight after university – spotted the opportunity to focus on the catering market and had the Marlish water source professionally tested.
He said: “The family have been here for a long, long time and there’s always a fantastic source of natural spring water here. A well was put in to feed the animals – the cows and sheep drink a lot. I had the idea once I’d finished university. At the time Abbeywell was acquired by Coca Cola and I’d spotted a gap in the market for an independent regional supplier.”
The idea was financed by Ms Walton, who had spent the intervening time enhancing biodiversity at the farm by tree planting, and took some time to get off the ground.
Mr Evans explained: “There was an enormous amount of analysis – we had to test the water every month for about two years to prove the stability of the source. To be able to call it spring water we knew we had to packaged it at source, and therefore we needed a factory on the farm. That took about two years of research and development.”
Marlish’s water falls as rain across the Simonside hills and moorland to the north of the farm before filtering through different layers of rock where it picks up mineralisation. A fault line that runs through Marlish Farm stops the water during the filtering process. The source is replenished at a faster rate than the business uses it.
The firm uses sustainable aluminium cans produced by the Carlisle-based factory of global manufacturer Crown for its products which range from still and sparkling water through to drinks flavoured with natural fruit extracts including Sicilian lemon, Brazilian orange and British apple.
A large solar installation on the farm provides much of the energy required by the canning factory which employs about six people, including Marlish’s production engineer who started out at 17-years-old as an apprentice via Northumberland College.
Mr Evans added: “At the time of the Marlish Farm visits there was probably about 20 people working here – jobs which unfortunately went at the time of foot-andmouth. It’s amazing that we’re now able to bring jobs back to the area.
“We’re in a market that is dominated by huge companies like Coca Cola and our cans on the shelf have to have the exact same quality. We’ve invested very heavily in the equipment and machinery to make sure it’s perfect. It’s quite incredible that we have such a hi-tech operation where we are, which is rural Northumberland.”
Marlish is now working with drinks wholesaler Signature Brands, which counts Spanish beer brand Cruzcampo and Old Monarch whisky amongst its portfolio. Its products are even supplied to the NHS.
Mr Evans said: “We provide an alternative to those sugary San Pellegrino drinks, and we’re British and sustainably-produced. We also do a fantastic range of mixers and tonics, all made on the farm. Yu can find them in bars and restaurants all over the country from Scotland down to Cornwall.
“There’s not many companies make their own soft drinks anymore. A lot will use contract manufacturers.
“The fact that we’re using the spring water that comes out of the ground and mixing it with essences – all here on the farm – is quite a unique thing.
“A lot of our customers really appreciate that. And the fact we’re a family business goes a long way.”