Colin Sneath is the founder of A Day’s Walk, an online local produce home delivery company and retail outlet based at Cark-in-Cartmel.

He writes: "I was born in Edinburgh but I moved to England with my family when I was seven. I grew up in Lytham St Annes. After school I went to Sheffield Hallam University to study Communication Studies and then joined Whitbread on their graduate trainee scheme.

I worked in various marketing roles in its retail division for Thresher, which had over a thousand off-licences. After six years with Whitbread, I moved to a marketing agency in Sheffield, starting as an account manager and eventually rising to managing director.

I left there to set up my own marketing agency, Credo, in Manchester, which I later sold before setting up specialist food and drink social media marketing agency, Huddle Media, in Lytham St Annes in 2011. In 2020 I set up A Day’s Walk Limited here in Cumbria with my wife Emma.

I called the company A Day’s Walk because every item the company stocks comes from a local farmer, grower, producer or business located within a day’s walk of the heart of the Lake District, meaning the food is exceptionally fresh and genuinely local. I am passionate about the Lake District area and want to do all I can to promote its local food and drink producers and businesses. A Day’s Walk supplies goods from more than 40 local producers and businesses.

We started out as an online shopping and local home delivery food and drink service, then started doing deliveries regionally, before adding a national delivery service. We developed the online shop from selling 50 items to the point where it now has more than 400. The most recent development has seen us also moving into a physical retail environment with the opening of The A Day’s Walk Lake District Food Hall at Holker Hall at Cark-in-Cartmel, where we also offer a click and collect service.

In terms of the delivery business, we are lucky because we get to see the whole of the county and all of its wonderful landscapes. However, the thing I get the biggest thrill out of is working with small producers who are working incredibly hard to produce great quality products. In some cases, we are giving them their first commercial opportunity, allowing them to establish and sustain themselves as a business.

For us I think a lot of the success has been down to working with people with a shared goal. We and the local producers are all working really hard to achieve what we want to achieve.

In terms of business in general, I would advise people not to shy away from doing something just because it looks hard. If you do manage to do things which are difficult, you are likely to succeed because others won’t have been prepared to take on the same challenge.

My spare time used to be taken up with rugby. I played for Fylde RUFC, Glossop and Buxton up to my thirties until I sustained a back injury. Later I coached under 14s in Lancashire, which I really enjoyed.

When we moved to Cumbria, my wife Emma and I took on a smallholding near Cartmel. It was always a goal to outdoor rear rare-breed pigs with the highest animal welfare standards possible. We are rearing Lops at the moment - they are the ones with the big ears! We also have chickens and ducks. My son, Cameron, who is studying outdoor leadership at the University of Cumbria, also helps on the smallholding. So, my spare time is spent looking after the animals. "