The Family
Dave & Sally
Dave & Sally have been married for over 40 years now (and can’t decide which one of them should get a medal) and are the OGs of Broadrayne Farm, buying it in 2012. They are blessed with two grown up daughters, Jessica and Georgina, who are both part of The Yan team (you can read a bit more about them further on).
Both born and bred in Yorkshire, Dave & Sally made the move to The Lake District in 2011 with the plan of semi-retiring. They bought Broadrayne Farm after falling in love with the location, history and spectacular views. Since their first day on the farm, they have been working tirelessly to continually improve and develop the properties, in order to enhance their customer’s experience of staying in this part of the world. Although retiring wasn’t quite what happened when they moved here, it’s fair to say over the last few years, they’ve achieved an awful lot and done a blummin’ good job at turning the farm into a pretty special spot.
Sally has many years' experience in accountancy, working in a range of roles from a Management Accountant for an industrial design company in Leicester to Finance Director of a family-owned business based in Huddersfield, where she worked for ten years. Since taking on the farm, Sally has been in charge of the books but with retirement on the horizon, she’s been passing on her wealth of knowledge to daughter, Jess. If you look around Broadrayne, you’ll see that the gardens, flowers and foliage are all pretty impressive, that is all down to Sally’s wizard gardening skills. She’ll still be keeping up with all her gardening thankfully, but when she’s not being green-fingered, Sally can often be seen dashing off for a swim in one of the Lakes, an evening fitness class or for a run around the fells (on the very rare occasion, you may even see Dave being dragged along too).
Dave started out as an electronics & telecommunications engineer and as his career progressed he ended up with over 30 years' corporate business experience at a senior executive level - there was nobody more surprised than Dave with this!
One of Dave's major roles was Managing Director for Virgin Media, so as you can imagine Dave's initial priority on Broadrayne Farm was sorting the Broadband and Wi-Fi! With his brilliant engineering background and brains (and a little help from Google and YouTube), Dave has adapted from "getting a man in" to being the "man" who fixes everything during his time on the farm.
It might be a decade later than planned but Dave and Sally have finally started to think about retiring. For real this time. Although they won’t be as involved in the day-to-day running of the farm, Dave & Sally will still very much be part of the fabric of The Yan and you’ll still see them around the farm!
Jess (& Will!)
Jess (Dave and Sally's eldest Daughter) has been a part of Broadrayne Farm since 2018, having returned to the UK after five years of living and working with her now husband Will in the French Alps. In the Alps they managed Auberge & Chalets Sur La Montagne, a privately-owned chalet company with 27 luxury chalets and an 8-bedroom boutique hotel. Jess managing all things operational and Will the Executive Chef.
Yorkshire born and bred; Jess fell into hospitality as a teenager when encouraged to make her own money as soon as her National Insurance number came through the post. She has travelled and worked in various hospitality roles across Europe and Asia including places such as Melbourne, Australia and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, until she landed in France in 2013 to work for Auberge & Chalets Sur La Montagne.
Jess has a creative side with a foundation diploma in Art & Design and studied Textile Design. She is also a trained dancer, a passionate ski mountaineer and generally loves all things hiking and wild swimming.
Jess’ extensive understanding of hospitality, together with her design flare, proved invaluable when together with Dave and Sally, they set about creating and building The Yan, with its chalet vibe and stylish super comfy rooms.
As a Director of Broadrayne and our Commercial director, she has developed naturally into our own ‘Eco Warrior’ status, ensuring that in all areas we are as sustainable as possible. She also oversees our incredible marketing, sales and social media, as well as all things financial - keeping us all on the straight and narrow!
In 2021, Jess and Will welcomed their gorgeous son Oscar into the world and you'll see him running around the farm, welcoming everyone he sees and jumping in every puddle! In June 2024 they welcomed their second son, Isaac, who is an absolute ray of sunshine! The two boys are definitely going to put new meaning into the phrase double trouble!
We cannot write the story of The Yan without giving huge credit to Jess’ other half Will. His experience and talents as a chef, created an award-winning dining experience that keeps guests coming back. His passion for creating wholesome classics, with a twist, using locally sourced ingredients over the first 5 years gave The Yan a reputation to be proud of and put us in good stead to take this food ethos into the future.
Following a sporting injury in 2023 which saw him unable to work for 8 months and then struggling to spend extended periods of time on his feet, coupled with the arrival of their second son, Isaac, helped him decide to spend more time at home with the kids, rather than behind the pass! He will be sorely missed, but his mentoring leaves us in the very capable hands of our amazing team and more importantly, with the shepherds’ pie recipe!
Gee & Pete
Gee (Sally and Dave's younger daughter) and husband Pete joined us in June 2022 and are also directors of Broadrayne. Like a Claret is to a Beef Wellington, Gee and Pete are the perfect pairing and combined, have over 20 years of experience in hospitality, developing their crafts in some of the best restaurants in The Lakes. They come to us after working at Lake Road Kitchen, down the road in Ambleside, where Gee was Head Chef and Pete was Restaurant Manager and sommelier. Quite the power couple, we think you'll agree! Gee is now our Operations Director and Pete is our General Manager, both working together to make sure the day to day running of the farm is smooth sailing!
Having witnessed the growth of The Yan from conception and enjoying their wedding reception on site in 2021, Gee and Pete decided 2022 was the year they wanted in on the action, we are ecstatic to have them and know their love for Broadrayne Farm runs through their veins, as much as it does ours.
Gee’s hospitality journey began when she took a four year ‘gap year’ in 2012 with older sis, Jess. After travelling around South East Asia, Australia and Europe, she went on to do a ski season as a chalet host in Val D’Isere where her love for cooking professionally began. She then came home in 2016 and started at Lake Road Kitchen, as a commis chef. Six years and a lot of hard graft later, she worked her way through the ranks and was promoted to Head Chef in 2019.
Gee is a lover of the water and if she’s not in it swimming or scuba diving, she’s on it with her paddleboard or kayak. She also doesn’t mind being dragged up a fell or two with Pete, as long as they take the most direct route and there is a promise of wine at the end!
Pete is a southerner - but we don't hold that against him! Thankfully, Pete saw the light and moved from Greater London up to Cumbria to study Outdoor Leadership at university (or as Gee likes to call it ‘the study of walking’). He started working in hospitality on the side, where he developed a passion for cocktails and wine. When working as manager of a cocktail and wine bar in Ambleside, he met Gee.
Pete went on to Michelin starred Forest Side where he worked as Head Barman (he even had one of his cocktail recipes featured in The Guardian). He later took his sommelier qualifications, working his way up to becoming their Head Sommelier. Drinking through work and recreationally, Pete has tasted over 6000 different wines! It’s a tough life. In 2019 he joined Gee at Lake Road Kitchen and became Restaurant Manager.
Pete is an outdoor enthusiast and has now climbed all of the Wainwrights. He is also a qualified scuba diving instructor and keen climber, so definitely the guy to find for a chat if you're looking for some inspo for your day out!
