A HUSBAND-and-wife team are opening their second food shop at Easter and hope to expand the brand across the region.

Simon and Jackie Edwards opened The Little Shop, in Barnard Castle, County Durham, two-and-a-half years ago, selling a range of local and organic produce, and have seen the business go from strength to strength.

The couple have now received planning permission to develop a second shop, as well as a cafe, in Richmond, North Yorkshire, which they hope to open next month.

"We worked hard to develop the shop into something special and unique and The Little Shop in Barnard Castle is now renowned across the region as the place you can get anything and everything," said Mrs Edwards.

"The Richmond shop, in Finkle Street, is about three times the size of our Barnard Castle shop, so we will have a small cafe in there too, selling Fair Trade tea and coffee and delicious hand-made sweet and savoury products from our delicatessen."

Mr and Mrs Edwards had careers in IT when they moved from Redcar, in east Cleveland, to Brompton, North Yorkshire, in 2000, and then to a 400-year-old farmhouse with three acres of land on Bowes Moor two years later.

When Mrs Edwards was made redundant, she decided to buy a greengrocers in Barnard Castle, which she transformed into The Little Shop.

At the same time, Mr Edwards developed their land to house 100 hens, 30 ducks, Hebridean and Shetland rare breed sheep and British Lop rare breed pigs.

"From our previous IT lives, we now have two businesses that perfectly complement each other and are growing rapidly.

"We have regular customers who come from Newcastle, Durham City and Teesside to shop with us," said Mrs Edwards.

"Once the second site is up and running, we would like to expand further. I think we'd like to open a shop in Leyburn next and then who knows. We have had people from Middlesbrough, Yarm, Stockton and Durham asking when we are moving there, so anything is possible."

The Little Shop stocks a range of food and drink, including handmade jams, marmalades, pickles, quiches, lasagnes, cottage pies, and vegetarian bakes, organic fruit and vegetables, locally-made honey, fudge and salad dressings.