LIKE most farmers' wives, Sarah Rhodes was finding life on the farm was not the rural idyll she had hoped for. Working seven days a week with husband Peter at Martholme Farm in Great Harwood, the returns from their 150-strong dairy herd just didn't make economic sense.

"Peter would be working 70 hours a week and the profits weren't paying the wages," said Sarah "We weren't getting the right price for our milk and there was all the red tape to do with employment. We thought about it for 12 months and in 1999 we decided we had to get out of dairy farming."

Fortunately for the Rhodes, Sarah had started running her own business from the 250-acre farm in 1995. She had read an article about Beryl Otley who had opened a hat hire business from her farm in York and became the first franchisee.

Today, Martholme Farm is the hub of the growing Get Ahead Hats operation that now has 18 outlets on farms from Devon to Dumphries.

Sarah took over the primary franchise licence four years ago and has just opened new showrooms, stockrooms and a national training centre for the farmers' wives at farm buildings that have been extensively refurbished.

"It is an ideal business for a farmer's wife," said Sarah. "When I first read about Beryl, my youngest son Richard was about to start at nursery school and I quite liked the thought of working from home.

"It started out as a part-time business, with me making appointments to fit around looking after the children."

Nowadays, Get Ahead Hats is very much a full-time occupation. Sarah is responsible for purchasing, marketing, training and recruitment as well as running her own outlet. She buys from top designers in Luton and Birmingham and the range includes hats designed exclusively for the business.

A new website - www.getaheadhats.co.uk - has been launched in time for the start of the 'hat hire' season along with highly-professional promotional material.

Between them, the Get Ahead Hats network has up to 5,000 hats for sale or hire. Hire charges range from £20 to £60 and designer hats can cost up to £300.

In addition to weddings, Sarah believes more and more women want to dress up for special occasions. "The Ribble Valley Ladies, for example, have hatted lunches," she said. "Ladies are going more often to race meetings and you would be surprised by the number of people from East Lancashire who go to garden parties at Buckingham Palace.

"Our customers seem to like the idea of going to a farm. They can bring in their outfit for their special day and choose the most suitable hat in a relaxed atmosphere. We have a lot of repeat business and word-of-mouth is a very powerful advertising medium for us."

Franchisees pay a fee to run a Get Ahead Hats outlet for five years. They are given a week's training at Martholme Farm and two additional training days a year when topics ranging from millinery skills to sales techniques are explored.

"Every single one of our franchisees has renewed after her initial five-year period," said Sarah. "Our franchisees are in business for themselves, but not by themselves. The business fits in very well with country life and our franchisees always have someone to turn to if they have any problems."

The Rhodes, however, have not completely withdrawn from their farming roots. Up to 1,000 lambs are being fattened on the farm where they have planted 14,000 trees under a Forestry Commission scheme. Peter also has a poultry farm at Baxenden where 130,000 broiler hens are kept.

You could say that both husband and wife are counting their chickens...