The Village Kitchen and Next Door

After a gap of nearly a year, the Market Place shop that was formerly Periwinkle has a new tenant. Jo Benbow (below) who runs the Village Kitchen, opened her gift shop, ‘Next Door’ in June 2011.

Jo is an experienced caterer: before opening the Village Kitchen (with Thelma Banks) she had run a coffee shop in Leyburn, the Winville Hotel – now the White Rose – and the Askrigg primary school kitchen. The Village Kitchen has now served its customers – locals and visitors – successfully for two years with their own cooked pies, puddings, takeaway meals and baking, supplemented by locally-sourced preserves, biscuits, cheeses and cakes.
Says Jo: “I meet so many fascinating customers it helps make up for the six o’clock starts in the bakery!” When Thelma moved back to Scotland Jo left her school job to take sole charge of the Village Kitchen. And when the shop next door became vacant she spotted another business opportunity and decided to develop the hitherto peripheral gift/memento side of the Kitchen’s business. Although developed with visitors in mind, Jo hopes villagers will also find it a boon, especially for the wide range of quality cards for all occasions she is developing and, most excitingly, the Post Office, which will soon be returning to its natural venue.