Hannah, Little Alf & Friends Win A Prestige Award

I was sat in my office last week when I got a call.

At the time I was staring down at Ida one of my Valais Blacknose sheep in the field, Ida has this ‘party trick’; she stands below my window waiting for me to come downstairs and out to the field. Every morning she waits by the window until I pull the curtains back, she’s a bit like a guard dog. It is lovely that she always waits no matter whether rain or shine.

Anyway, I digress, back to the call, as I answered it Ida looked up and before wandering back across the field, knowing that my phone calls are never short, she took herself off to a nearby piece of fresh grass to munch.

I was pleasantly surprised when the person introduced themselves from the Prestige Awards UK, a company I had heard of in the past in the business circle.

After a lengthy conversation they told me that Hannah, Little Alf & Friends, my company had won ‘Home goods retailer of the year’. I was shocked and surprised as I had no idea about the nomination or even being up for the award.

The judges said they were particularly impressed by the online store and creative products I stocked. The homeware collection at Hannah Little Alf & Friends is made up of a mixture of popular dining ware and interior décor, together with prints for the home, all inspired by animals at the small holding here in the Yorkshire Dales, including Little Alf the miniature Shetland and Izzy & Ida the Valais Blacknose sheep.

They also spoke about my unusual business idea, taking my pets into books, then into home merchandise and how much they loved the story of the brand and seeing it evolve online.

Having this recognition is lovely. I first started the business in 2014 with no idea where it was going to take me. In the last 12 months I’ve really worked on the brand and designed the website myself from start to finish that’s why it is rewarding to receive this award. I was just 17 when my first book was published and I wasn’t really sure what I was doing and to be honest most of the time I don’t now!

My main inspiration comes from being with the animals and the outdoors, working to put this into the business. One thing I’ve learnt in business is don’t move away from what makes you unique. As the founder, I’m very much part of my brand and it’s always been important to me to stand out from the crowd and set myself apart from other business this way. In the last few months I’ve focused on developing new ideas and going on further courses to help the business grow, the great aspect of business is that we never stop learning.

I’m really excited about the next stages for the brand and writing further books based on my animals, I’m so grateful to them.

Oh and by the way! If you want to see Ida's party trick I posted it as a video on my social channels last week
and it's gone viral.