B&B deal is icing on the cake for Cheshire couple

AN enterprising Cheshire couple have acquired an upmarket B&B in Lancashire, which they plan to enhance with a tearoom selling their own home-made cakes.

Andy and Gill Osborne from Chester already own Scrummy Somethings Cake Design and have now branched out into the tourism sector with the purchase of Middle Holly Cottage in Forton, between Garstang and Lancaster.

The Osbornes secured a six figure funding package from The Royal Bank of Scotland under the government’s Funding for Lending scheme to support the purchase of the former coaching inn, which was built in 1820.
 
Middle Holly Cottage is a 4-star Gold Award bed and breakfast. It has four en-suite bedrooms, providing quality accommodation complete with flat screen televisions, refreshment facilities and free Wi-Fi.

The pair hope to open a tearoom at the front of the property soon to attract trade from local residents and walkers.  It is hoped that this will also provide an additional outlet to sell cakes and pastries from for their existing business.

Mr Osborne said: “We are thrilled to be the new owners of Middle Holly Cottage Bed and Breakfast.  It has been a dream of ours for a long time to own and run our own B&B and we are excited that it has finally become our reality. Middle Holly Cottage is already really popular with visitors to the region and we look forward to welcoming both new and existing customers to stay with us.

“The loan we have secured has been really affordable and has meant that rather than using revenue to pay fees and bank charges, we can put funds to good use within the business.”

Keith Tennant, development manager at The Royal Bank of Scotland added: “The FLS scheme was designed to support smaller businesses and its use here illustrates perfectly how it makes borrowing much more accessible to companies.”