The Churchmouse at Barbon

The Churchmouse at Barbon is a Village Store, Delicatessen, Cafe and Fully Licensed Friday Night Bistro. As well as selling on-line a variety of Wedding Cheese Cakes.

The Challege

When Churchmouse Cheeses, formally a cheese monger and delicatessen, based in the market town of Kirkby Lonsdale moved premises and location and evolved into the Churchmouse at Barbon; they moved away from a website which was predominantly e-commerce, selling a wide range of cheeses, chutneys, biscuits and Wedding Cheese Cakes. No longer entirely relevant to their expanding business in Barbon, situated in the Yorkshire Dales, which encompasses a village store, delicatessen, cafe and rejuvenated Friday Night Bistro, we had built them a new site which closely integrated their new business with the online shop.

As the Churchmouse at Barbon continues to evolve and priorities change they decided that in fact some distance between their Wedding Cheese Cake business and the Village Store/Cafe would be more relevant. Whilst they still wanted the businesses to be linked through the website, they also wanted them to appear distinctly different, with a dedicated url to the Wedding Cheese Cake businesses which they could direct potential customers too. With two distinctly different customer bases; people from across the country ordering Wedding Cheese Cakes, then locals and tourists visiting the Churchmouse at Barbon, it was time for a different approach.


Our Solution for The Churchmouse at Barbon

We took the time to visit the Churchmouse at Barbon, to understand how they felt they needed to change their approach to online marketing of the Wedding Cheese Cake part of their business. Happy with the site we had previously built them in representing the Churchmouse at Barbon, we decided that whilst it would benefit from a refresh, the general style and layout should remain the same. As a well-known business, both award-winning and featured on Channel 4’s 'The Yorkshire Dales & The Lakes', it was crucial that any website rebuild did not take away from the brand.

Nevertheless the Wedding Cheese Cake side of the business needed to stand apart from the rest, so we set up a sub-site to the main Churchmouse of Barbon website. Developing a more eye-catching design to accommodate the photos of their various Wedding Cheese Cakes, the sub-site is visual with an entirely different layout. On the face of it, it is an entirely different site; accessible from the main Churchmouse at Barbon website but to someone simply visiting the Wedding Cheese Cake site they would be unlikely to be distracted by the other factors of the business, in making their purchase.

We continue to use WooCommerce (a WordPress e-commerce plugin) for the online shop allowing John and Jules to easily update and amend product detail as well as processing payment. To support the unique nature of the business we included a BACs payment option for customers who are placing a deposit upon agreement and prompt them to include information around the logistics of their wedding day.

Given the customer facing nature of the Churchmouse at Barbon the clients have limited time to spend on more office based duties so it was important any solution we provided would offer a site which is simple to maintain and update – for this we again opted for WordPress which they have already had great success with. Support is still available, recognising that the priority for any client is confidently amending what matters to them and the business on a daily basis rather than significant changes to the sites structure and functionality.

"I first opened Churchmouse Cheeses in Kirkby Lonsdale back in 2002. When we started, we were just a small shop selling speciality cheeses and various accompaniments. We have since branched out into providing bespoke cheese wedding cakes on a national basis and we moved premises back in 2013 to allow us to develop this side of the business more and also to open a cafe and bistro in Barbon, 3 miles outside Kirkby Lonsdale.

Darren had built and looked after my original website since it’s inception in 2004 so, following our move, I knew we needed a brand new website to reflect the change in focus of our business and also to provide a clear and modern section to promote our cheese wedding cakes. I was delighted to work once more with Darren and his wife Eilidh and their understanding of my needs and the needs of the website were, I believe, second to none. We had nothing but support throughout the period of shifting from our old website to the new one and I am delighted with our new site. We have already noticed an increase in wedding cakes sales and the site is very easy to navigate and, most important to me, easy to update, add photos to and generally keep on top of. I also found their pricing reasonable and realistic. Keep up the good work guys!

So remember kids, “If your website needs a Fresh Face – call Freshspace!"


JOHN NATLACEN, OWNER, THE CHURCHMOUSE AT BARBON


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