Blacksmiths Arms


Fine ales and home cooked food in the Lake District

The Challege

When we first spoke to Sophie and Michael at the Blacksmiths Arms in Broughton Mills, Cumbria they had an existing website which had been set up by the previous owners, with a charming sketch of the Blacksmiths Arms on the homepage. Focussing on the day-to-day running of their Lakeland inn, updating the website had fallen on the back-burner with the content becoming outdated and not relevant to what they were offering.

A popular, traditional Lake District establishment offering real ales and good food which is locally sourced, there was a desire for a website which felt more fitting with the quality of experience that the Blacksmiths Arms offers. In addition, they required a website which allowed them to easily update content as last minute as possible either directly or through on-hand support, in particular menus and opening hours which change seasonally.


Our Solution

We wanted to make the experience of building a new website as pain-free and seamless for Sophie and Michael as possible. In the background we built the framework of the WordPress website so that they had a visual template for how we could display the information, making it easier for them to write some up-to-date content for the site. Not wanting to lose the traditional feel of the Lakeland Inn, we opted for large header images of the professional photography they had taken of the Blacksmiths Arms.

Knowing that they are popular with locals as well as the many visitors to the nearby Cumbria and Lake District hotspots such as Coniston, Broughton-in-Furness and Ulverston, we made the contact details as visible as possible, and ensured that the site is entirely responsive and mobile friendly. We also wanted to bridge the old with the new - the website features one page for the history of the Blacksmiths Arms, and one page featuring a social media board which displays posts from their ever popular Facebook page, they also a serge of traffic on the day that their chef Mark Satterthwaite was on BBC MasterChef The Professionals, which our hosting coped easily with.

Overall the website is simple but stylishly built, communicating everything that a visitor to the cosy Lakeland inn would need to know whilst offering a glimpse at the true essence of the Blacksmiths Arms.

"A friendly, personal, yet professional service. We are delighted with our new website and the back-up support that Freshspace provide."


SOPHIE & MICHAEL LANE, THE BLACKSMITHS ARMS


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