From ice cream to I scream as farmer diversifies with bank support
Revellers in Lancashire are in for a fright after a local attraction which specialises in scaring people is expanding with funding from Yorkshire Bank.
Hawkshaw Farm in Clayton Le Dale, Blackburn, has been home to the Dowson family and their farming business, EB Dowson and Son, since 1954. The family produces the renowned Mrs Dowson's ice cream from the family's herd of dairy cows.
Things took a frightful twist in 2009 when the business diversified and opened Scare Kingdom Scream Park on the site.
The park - which offers visitors a range of terrifying experiences - is expanding after receiving funding from Yorkshire Bank. The deal was conducted by Ian Mist, senior manager at Yorkshire Bank's Business & Private Banking Centre in Preston.
The finance is being used by the Dowsons to erect a new, dedicated building for housing a number of Scare Kingdom's attractions. In previous years the various scare experiences have been housed in existing farm buildings and then removed after Halloween.
The improved infrastructure will enable the Dowsons to enhance the quality of attractions while reducing the impact Scare Kingdom has on the successful day-to-day operation of the dairy farm and ice cream manufacturing. It will also allow them to offer fright night experiences throughout the year for the first time in 2014.
Scare Kingdom has grown more popular each year, welcoming more than 8,000 visitors in 2012 - including a couple who travelled from Australia. Scare Kingdom Scream Park will open to the public on Saturday 5th October until Saturday 9th November, with early bird bookings already doing well and visitor numbers expected to break 10,000 this year.
Eric Dowson, managing director of EB Dowson and Son, said: "This new investment will allow us to give our visitors even more of a scare this year. Being able to have some of our attractions set-up all year will save us time but it will also gives us a larger calendar of events.
"The experience changes each year so that people don't know what to expect when they come back. We don't just have people jumping out saying ‘boo'. We hire professional actors to deliver a genuinely terrifying night for our visitors.
"It's our intention to continue growing Scare Kingdom and the support from Yorkshire Bank is helping us do that. It's very reassuring that the local team from the Bank understands our business and we were able to agree this deal over the phone."
EB Dowsons and Son run Scare Kingdom Scream park in partnership with AtmosFEAR!, a company specialising in providing creative content and actors for fright night attractions.
Ian Hardman, head of Yorkshire Bank's Business & Private Banking Centre in Preston, said: "Scare Kingdom truly is a high quality destination attraction with people travelling from all over the country to have a good night out.
"The Dowsons are best known for their ice cream but we're pleased to be supporting a local, family business to diversify and strengthen with what is an innovative attraction."
Further details about Scare Kingdom Scream Park can be found at scarekingdom.com.