Yorkshire Dales: Farm that was doing glamping before the word was invented on the market for £2.8m

However, the plan was always that they would create a venture that would set them up for retirement.

Al though putting the farm up for sale has been a huge decision, it was the annual general meeting of Scottish Agri-tourism in December which turned out to be the catalyst – after t he couple noticed they were oldest people there.

Mrs Tuer said: “We were about 40 years older than the people that were speaking and you still think you are in your 30s or 40s. Mike said ‘that’s it’ and we made the decision.”

The couple have no definite future plans but are interested in architecture and Mike is a passionate environmentalist.

But like they have been throughout their entire working lives, they remain open minded, and that has served them well business wise.

When they took over Crake Trees from Mrs Tuer ’s parents, it was a heavily mortgaged farm and the couple needed to make it wor k.

“It was a small farm, and it needed other things to make it work. I am not keen on the word diversification but making the most of your assets,” Mrs Tuer added .

“We have changed a farm that was not viable and heavily intensive to one that is viable, beautiful and making money.

“ It was a traditional farm, with sheep cattle and dairy and grew barley an d hay and my mother did B& B as well. When we got married and had babies, it was easy to make money from not going out to work, if you like.

“ It was B& B, then evening meal, then afternoon teas. T hen we got into B& B on a bigger scale, with shepherds’ huts.

“We were doing it before the word glamping was even invented.”

Since then the couple have added hot tubs, bought cottages for self-catering and established the Combine Shed music venue, which hosts DJs and live bands, Ruth and Mike, who are fans of Ibiza dance music, have a wood-fired pizza oven and fully-licensed bar serving locally made beers and gins and offer their own Beltie burgers, venison and roast pork and apple, all from the farm.

They have planted thousands of trees in small shelter belts and blocks in different parts of the land, as well as miles of hedgerows as wildlife corridors.

The farm is home to a wetlands project, in partnership with the Eden Rivers Trust and the Westmorland Fells, which stems the flow of water – some 20 million litres of it – downstream to protect against flooding a s far afield as Carlisle.

Crake Trees Manor generates more than £200,000 per year and sharing the secret to their success, Ruth added: “Do something because you want to – that is the main thing, you have both got to want to do it.

“Say the husband is driving the slurry through the yard and you h ave got visitors. You have to have empathy with what you are doing, like people, be organised and o pen to ideas.

“It has been a challenge over the years, we have always had to make people want to come but now we are in the Yorkshire Dales and it has grown organically almost.”