A FURNITURE importer is turning the tables to export products from the region.

Simply Dutch, in Leeming Bar, near Northallerton, North Yorkshire, has been importing fine oak furniture from Holland for a decade.

With the company's vehicles travelling to Rotterdam empty, owner Jason Hadlow saw a business opportunity.

"It didn't make any sense to send the containers back empty," he said.

"I started to think about what we could export to the Dutch market and decided Yorkshire pine furniture would fit the bill.

"Our early findings are that there is a substantial interest in pine furniture in Holland, just as there is in oak furniture in the UK."

Working with a furniture company based in the former Courtaulds factory in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, he has set up links with a Dutch retail chain, and the business is steadily growing.

The import side of the business had a turnover of £1m last year, but exports are expected to account for sales worth up to £100,000 this year.

"The export side is still very much in its infancy," he said.

"And you have to remember that, while we have a fantastic, vibrant economy, the rest of Europe is in a double-dip recession."

He recently sold 290 chairs to the Baha Beach Club chain, which has a nightclub in Gateshead.

"They are going all over Europe," he said.

"At least 90 of them are going to Spain."

He is already thinking about opening small warehouse operations in Ireland and Spain.

Mr Hadlow, who lives in Yarm, near Stockton, is a former chef. He moved North with his wife, Catherine, after running a chain of coffee shops in London.

He initially worked as a consultant for Ebac, one of the world's largest water cooler manufacturers, in Bishop Auckland.

He bought Simply Dutch a year ago from the couple who founded the business, Alfie and Susan Gilmore.

"We had been looking for something for a while when we fell across Simply Dutch," he said. "It only took ten minutes to make my mind up."

The Bedale Road store has a reputation for stocking unique and eye-catching pieces. Its garden furniture range includes a statue of the Rolls-Royce hood ornament, the Spirit of Ecstasy.