A MICROBREWERY is expanding after just six months in business.

Since opening last autumn, the Sonnet 43 Brew House, in Coxhoe, County Durham, has exceeded expectations for sales of craft ales and beers.

Now it has moved into bigger offices, in the adjoining Kicking Cuddy pub, and has recruited a new sales and administration apprentice, Chelsea Thomas, 20, from Frosterley.

Owner Mark Hird said: “We have been overwhelmed by the positive response Sonnet 43 Brew House has generated in such a short space of time.”

The brewery is named in honour of Sonnet 43, penned by 19th Century poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who was born nearby, which begins: “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”