WHEN Janet Simpson decided to convert the family bar into a cafe, she had little idea it would eventually turn into a thriving hotel. She spoke to JENNY SCOTT. . .

IT was only supposed to be a countryside cafe.

But 21 years and 19 awards later, the Gibbon Bridge Hotel has proved slightly more prosperous than that.

Its illustrious guest list includes names like Shirley Bassey and, at its recent 21st birthday celebrations, it attracted old friends from Australia, Hawaii and Portugal.

The woman behind the Gibbon Bridge success story is 62-year-old Janet Simpson, who has spent the past two decades transforming what was once the barn on the family farm into a 29 bedroom hotel, complete with tennis courts, a beauty salon, a bakery and even a helicopter pad!

Together with her mother Maggie, Janet took up the challenge of diversifying their business more than 10 years before it became the official Government agenda for rural regeneration.

Yet Janet claimed: "All I wanted to do was have a small country cafe making afternoon teas for passing cyclists. Perhaps the hotel would never have happened without the encouragement of my mother."

Maggie was 70 when she and Janet were first approached by the North West Tourist Board who were looking to improve the facilities for visitors to the Ribble Valley.

The idea for a small hotel was gradually coined and the renovation work on the barn got under way.

It opened in Christmas 1982 and included a 50-seater restaurant, a bar and lounge and six bedrooms.

Twenty-one years and several extensions later the Gibbon Bridge plays host to wedding receptions, conferences and birthday parties.

Its design has been planned to fit in with its rural surroundings and it still has a traditional feel, with many of its arched Gothic features having been acquired from the demolished church of St Michael and All Angels in Blackburn.

Its 22 suites are designed with features like split-level rooms, whirlpool baths and four poster beds, while its 23 acre grounds include a bandstand, where the first civil wedding in Lancashire was held, and a garden, where many of the vegetables for the hotel's famous meals are grown.

Janet said: "We're fairly self sufficient. Our food is very seasonal -- at the moment we're getting cabbage, beans, courgettes and raspberries. We make our own breads and chutneys and jams and we get eggs from our own hens."

Although Maggie died nine years ago, Janet has kept up the hotel's policy of expansion into new areas.

A bakery was added to the hotel in 1989 selling freshly baked bread, scones and biscuits and supplying the hotel with cakes and confectionery. And, away from the hotel, Janet has never been prepared to rest on her laurels either.

In 1998 she took off for Uganda on a 250 mile cycle trek and raised £3,000 for Leonard Cheshire Homes. She repeated the exploit in February 1999 in Nepal and September 1999 at the Grand Canyon, raising over £11,000 for Scope in the process.

"I just wanted something different from the luxury of wining and dining," Janet explained.

"Besides, there'd be no other hotel good enough to go to! I was pretty much just roughing it -- sometimes we'd go to places and there'd be nowhere to sleep.

"The people who sponsor you think they're just paying for you to have a holiday. They have no idea what it's like." To celebrate the hotel's 21st birthday, Janet will be trekking the Inca trail in May next year, again to raise money for Scope.

Meanwhile, her other hobby -- restoring old cars -- has also seen her travel to some fairly remarkable places. After having learned to ride a tractor at the age of 10 on her family's first farm near Skipton, Janet's passion for motors grew and she bought her first "old" car -- a 1935 Austin Seven -- at the age of 33.

However, the highlight of Janet's vintage vehicle adventures came when she took part in the Diamond Jubilee Lagonda Rally at Le Mans, when she joined 74 other drivers for a three-lap drive around the track in her 1935 Lagonda. Even without these adventures though, the hotel itself would have provided Janet with dozens of happy memories.

Two weeks ago the hotel celebrated 21 years in business and welcomed 300 former guests, including Coronation Street's Vicky Entwistle, to a large function on the lawn.

And one of Janet's personal highlights was her 50th birthday party.

She said: "It was a wonderful outdoor event. People came in the afternoon and they were still dancing at 11pm. Even people who hadn't danced for years got into the swing of it.

"We decided on a '30s theme and we had a jazz band. People wore feather boas and straw hats and suits. It was amazing!"

Yet no matter how much the business expands, Janet puts its success down to the family-style warmth of the staff and premises -- something retained from the days when Janet and her parents moved to the farm all those years ago.

"People like to see familiar faces," she explained, "and they like to be comfortable. Some of my staff have been here for a very long time and I think that helps the business. They're reliable, they have a good sense of humour and people like the continuity."