OWNERS of a farm are set to open a carbon-neutral restaurant and create 10 jobs.

Gazegill Organics' restaurant will serve up to 100 diners, all powered by electricity generated on site.

The 250-acre farm in Rimington will supply almost all its produce for the eco-eatery, meaning zero food miles, while other ingredients will come from nearby organic farms.

Emma Robinson, the farm’s owner, said: “We had a fantastic 2019 and due to the growth in sales took on six extra staff to cope with the demand. In the last year we’ve taken on marketing and office staff as well as a fourth butcher.

“We pride ourselves on the fact that our farm has been in the same family for more than 500 years. We are totally committed to organic natural farming in the same way our grandparents were.

“We are very excited about developments in the year ahead. We are planning to open two holiday lets alongside two off-grid luxury cabins. The eco-eatery sees us branching out into new territory. We expect it will create around 10 jobs and we are looking for people interested in working with us to get in touch.”

The multi award-winning farm specialises in raw milk and organic, with its herd of dairy cows being antibiotic-free for seven years.

The Robinson family have been farming at Gazegill for about 500 years and, as farming began to modernise, the business rejected the use of hormones, chemicals, pesticides or genetically modified organisms to grow produce.

Mrs Robinson runs the farm with her husband, Ian O’Reilly, who triumphed a “phenomenal few years of growth” and believes veganism is helping the farm to succeed despite a rising number of people cutting meat out of their diet.

He said: “People think maybe they should be eating less meat generally, but they realise that it’s about having better quality meat - which is produced the natural way.

“I also think that the vegan movement helps us. People are not necessarily becoming vegan but are starting to question where the meat on their plate comes from.”