AN ENTERPRISING ice cream firm which beat the foot-and-mouth crisis by operating in exile for six weeks is returning to its farmyard home, without laying off a single member of staff.

The financial outlook seemed bleak at the beginning of April when over-the-counter sales were stopped as customers were barred from entering the farm amid fears of spreading the disease.

But the family-run Brymor ice cream firm at High Jervaulx, near Masham, decided that if the public could not come to them they would move to the customers.

So they upped sticks, setting up their selling operation in the unlikely venue of the ballroom at Masham Town Hall, four miles down the road from their Wensleydale base.

A decision to move came as the firm lost £50,000 worth of business as the foot-and-mouth crisis hit sales.

The decision to switch halted imminent laying off of the firm's 14 staff.

And now they are preparing to boost the workforce with ten part-time students to cope with growing summer trade.

"We had no idea just how things would work out at the Town Hall. But once people got to know they supported us magnificently, even to the extent of queueing out of the door and down the steps.

"Customers have come from all over Yorkshire and beyond, while the people of Masham have been just brilliant for us," said the firm's founder, Brian Moore.

The firm finish at their temporary home on Wednesday at 5pm, and pledge to reopen at their farm site the following day by 10am.

The ice cream is produced from a herd of 300 Guernsey cows at High Jervaulx and some of the calves are normally part of a visitor area.

But before reopening, cattle will be kept well away from the public, and a disinfectant ring is being thrown around the public area as a continuing precaution.