ACTRESS Sammy Winward’s family were not stumped when it came to branching out with a new business idea.

For the last 10 years people have been buying logs and kindling from the family farm in Broadhead Road, Edgworth, and admiring the items Sammy’s dad, Martin created out of left over wood.

Now the family have set up a business to tap into the desire for rustic wedding items.

Orders have already started to come in for wooden cake stands, coasters, place settings, drinks charms and candle holders.

And the family are expecting interest to grow once people start “logging on” to the Rustic Weddings website.

Sammy, who plays Katie Addyman in TV soap opera Emmerdale, her sister Amy Hardman and their mum Jane come up with design ideas.

Sammy said: “All the family contribute in their own individual way and are all very much hands on as well as having our own individual creative input.”

Even Sammy’s eight-year-old daughter Mia is getting in on the act, devising her own range of products for children, including teddy and doll furniture.

Amy said: “We thought it would be nice for people to have something different for their wedding.

“Shabby chic is very popular at the moment and everything Dad does can be personalised.

“He is self taught and when he started making a few products we all thought they were amazing.”

Martin said they realised there was a demand for log based wedding items when they started getting speculative calls from brides asking if the could supply wooden bases for their wedding cakes.

He added: “We thought it was an idea worth expanding as it used the same raw materials we already had.”

The Winwards are now gauging the public’s reaction to their products after their first wedding fair at The Last Drop Village

“We are very excited about it,” said Amy.

“At the moment we are very much seeing how it goes. We launch the website in a few weeks and we’ll take it from there.”