WHEN tea shop owner Clare Gardiner started making chocolates as a sideline, she could not have imagined what it would lead to.

Her luxury hand-made chocs proved so popular she closed her original business and moved to new premises to meet demand.

Now situated on Leyburn Business Park, The Little Chocolate Shop has received more than 20,000 visitors over the last ten weeks.

Annual turnover has increased five-fold since the business was launched 18 months ago and it now employs two full-time and two part-time staff with Amy Bush, an apprentice, being taken on from Darlington College of Technology.

Ms Gardiner, a former garden designer from Winchester, originally took over the Mill Race tea shop at Aysgarth Falls at the end of 2000.

Lack of visitors owing to the foot-and-mouth crisis almost saw it close and that was when she decided to diversify into chocolate manufacturing after undergoing a short training course at the Callebaut Institute in Aalst, Belgium.

She got the idea of making chocolates after an Aysgarth neighbour mentioned that her grandson was a chocolatier in Sheffield. She took up an invitation to visit him, then enrolled on the course.

Ms Gardiner then set up The Little Chocolate Shop in a tiny basement room at the tea shop, with the help of a phase 2 recovery grant from Yorkshire Forward.

Brian Woodhouse from Business Link York and North Yorkshire helped her with a business plan and guided her through the application process which allowed her to buy the necessary equipment, set up a web site and undertake marketing initiatives.

By the end of last year, the chocolates were in such demand that she decided to sell the tea shop and concentrate on chocolate manufacturing.

With further help from Business Link, a phase 3 Objective 2 recovery grant was obtained from Yorkshire Forward. It enabled her to refurbish the Leyburn premises, which include a viewing area to see the chocolates being made.

Since then the business has become an English Tourism Council "Quality Assured Visitor Attraction" after undergoing a rigorous quality assurance assessment.

Ms Gardiner has nothing but praise for Business Link. "We wouldn't be here without Brian's help," she said, "He was brilliant. The building was literally a shell. We had to refit the whole area, which would have been very difficult without the grant.

"Brian has helped with business plans for both grant applications and has always been on hand with useful help and advice."

Mr Woodhouse says: "The Little Chocolate Shop is now a thriving business with coach loads of people queuing up to see Clare's chocolate-making skills and to buy her delicious hand-crafted chocolates."

Business Link York and North Yorkshire can be contacted on 01904 686 000 or on www.here4business.co.uk.