Hope springs for ‘water farmers’

10:56am Tuesday 8th May 2007

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MANY generations of Lancashire folk have sworn by the refreshing qualities of the ancient waters drawn from underneath the Forest of Bowland.

Now farmer David Gardner and his family are hoping the age-old springs could one day become as renowned as Perrier and Evian in the bottled water trade.

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Their prime targets include restaurants, cafes and hotels in the Ribble Valley and Forest of Bowland, as well as further afield, in tourist hotspots such as Blackpool and Morecambe.

Pure Bowland water is no fly-by-night venture - like Del Trotter's bogus tipple Peckham Spring in TV's Only Fools and Horses.

Purified for 500 years by volcanic rock, rolling down from Pendle Hill, the water has been sourced by sinking a 500-metre borehole on Far Lodge Farm, Quernmore, near an ancient spring.

The Gardners have farmed in the Bowland area for three generations but recently they found their dairy business was not bringing in enough money.

Father-of-two David was determined his son Chris would follow in the footsteps of his grandfather Thomas, 88, and great-grandfather Richard, so he decided to diversify.

He said: "My son left college and wanted to farm but we weren't making enough from milking cows.

"We've always been drinking the spring water and thought it tasted good. And other people used to tell us we should bottle it. So we just decided to go ahead. We live in a beautiful part of the world and just wanted to share it with everyone else."

Using grants from the Government, the Gardners have also established a bottling plant on their land.

David and wife Kath are hoping, as the county's only recorded natural spring water retailer, Lancashire customers will prove loyal.

David said: "We believe we have a cracking product for Lancashire and we believe people want to buy local and support businesses which are reinvesting in the community."

David will carry on with the dairy business and he has also branched out in recent years into the holiday cottages industry.

Water production is set to begin early next week.