The owner of a glamping site in Sorn said that she always planned to stay local and create her business in the area.
Nicola Young opened Lintmill Lodges earlier this year alongside partner Alan Stewart and son Jackson.
Being from the area, and having become a familiar face over the years, gave Nicola the confidence that she could make the venture a success.
The loss of the thousands of jobs in the coal mining area that supported Cumnock and the surrounding area for decades may have played a huge part in the steady decline in the number of people living locally, but it's also opened up opportunities for people, like Nicola, keen to forge a new business path.
And despite deliberating over some decisions in the four years between coming up with the idea and making it a reality, Nicola says that one thing was never up for debate.
She said: “When we had this idea, we always wanted to keep it local as much as we can, and keep in with other businesses where we could.
“Me and my dad used to run wee events out of Sorn Games Hall, so being as close to Sorn as possible was always the way we wanted to go.
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“I think something like this helps when you’re from the area.
“It’s never easy to start up a new business, but when you’re doing it in a place that you’re from, and people recognise you, then it makes it that much easier."
Now living in Auchinleck, the Lintmill site is firmly in the family's roots, as the land partly belonged to Alan's family.
The idea came from Nicola initially being furloughed from her job at a Mauchline vet's surgery, after 24 years of working there.
Having toyed with the idea of opening a luxury lodge area, the couple decided to just to jump into the idea.
Nicola says she is thrilled at how things have gone over the past four years, but admits the journey wasn't without its challenges.
She added: “Initially, we had spoken to franchising companies, but they wanted to build six lodges in the space.
“We decided against that, because we thought it would be a bit too much for the space we have. We wanted it to be a bit more personal for people coming here.
“We think our target market will be people from outside of Ayrshire, which is kind of understandable because you know what it’s like when people think about things on their doorsteps.
“We want to bring people to Ayrshire and show off all the wonderful things Sorn and the surrounding areas have to offer.
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“One of the beauties of Ayrshire is how peaceful and tranquil it can be. That’s the appeal it has to a lot of people, especially those that come from Glasgow or Edinburgh or a bigger town or city."
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