IT was founded in a remote, picture-postcard village amid troubled times for the Yorkshire Dales economy.

In the darker days of the Seventies, with the fortunes of many rural enterprises on the slide, David and Grizel Morris saw their fledgling company as a way of injecting some much-needed prosperity.

But now, as the couple prepare to retire after nearly 30 years at the helm of Swaledale Woollens, even they could not have imagined the phenomenal success that would come their way.

For the cottage industry they created and nurtured, providing locally-made knitwear, is a household name not only in the Dales, but across the world - with a client list that has included some startling names.

The remote outpost of Muker, in Swaledale, where the firm is based, was the first port of call for Sir Ranulph Fiennes when he wanted hand-knitted gloves for his legendary expeditions to the North and South Poles.

The late Diana, Princess of Wales, also placed an order for woolly gloves after seeing the company's products at a rural show.

And the Royal connections did not end there, as Prince Charles took a particular shine to a Swaledale sweater at another event.

"He came to a show up here and we happened to have a stand at it," recalled Mr Morris. "We spoke to him and he even said he had heard of us before."

The famous clients seemed a world away in the early days though, as the Morris's built on skills developed in Elizabethan times when lead miners supplemented their meagre income by knitting stockings.

"It is quite a story how we got going," said Mr Morris. "It really was a revival of the early industry in the Dales when lead mining was at its peak. It was one of those things that was rather different and these days, if you want to succeed, you have to be different."

Today, traditional hand-knitted and hand-framed sweaters, socks, gloves, hats and shawls are created for sale worldwide by a team of about 30 knitters, working in their homes in the Yorkshire Dales, together with some in Darlington and one in Middleton-in-Teesdale.

The name of the knitter is clearly marked on each garment in a unique personal feature which sprung a surprise in the past when one received a marriage proposal from a satisfied customer.

The firm will now be taken on by Kenneth and Kathleen Hird, of Low Row. And they will take the reins with confidence that the skills of yesteryear are still much appreciated in the twenty-first century.