The Escapade Group Expands North With Farmer Ted’s Adventure Farm Acquisition

The UK attractions industry has seen another major move this spring, with The Escapade Group officially acquiring Farmer Ted’s Adventure Farm in Lancashire as part of its growing national expansion strategy.

Completed on 8 May 2026, the acquisition gives The Escapade Group its seventh attraction and marks the company’s first major move into the North West. For families across the region, Farmer Ted’s is already a household name, known for its mix of outdoor adventure, indoor play, animal encounters and packed calendar of seasonal events.

Located near Ormskirk, the attraction has built a loyal following over more than two decades and is perhaps best known for housing the UK’s only Shaun the Sheep™ attraction. It has also become a major seasonal destination thanks to Farmaggedon, the hugely popular Halloween scare event which attracts over 30,000 visitors every year and has developed a strong reputation within the international scare attraction industry.

For The Escapade Group, the deal represents another confident step forward in a rapidly expanding portfolio that already includes Hobbledown, Hobbledown Heath, Gripped London, Kidspace Croydon, Kidspace Romford and Watermouth Castle in Devon.

Chief Executive Officer Joe Ponte described Farmer Ted’s as a “fantastic attraction” with a passionate team and strong customer loyalty already in place.

He said the focus now would be on building upon the site’s existing strengths while helping the attraction continue to evolve in the years ahead.

Founders Nick de Candole and Richard Farley also highlighted the attraction’s creativity and strong family appeal, describing it as exactly the kind of immersive, escapist experience The Escapade Group looks for when expanding its portfolio.

Importantly for returning visitors, families can expect continuity rather than dramatic change. The existing Farmer Ted’s team will remain in place as part of the transition, helping preserve the character and atmosphere that have made the attraction such a success over the last 23 years.

Farmer Ted’s founders Mark and Diane Edwards said joining The Escapade Group represented an exciting new chapter for the business, praising the company’s understanding of what makes a successful family attraction in today’s competitive leisure market.

The acquisition also highlights the continued strength of the UK’s experiential leisure sector, where operators are increasingly investing in attractions that combine entertainment, immersive experiences and repeat family visits.

As consumer demand for experience-led days out continues to grow, The Escapade Group appears determined to become one of the UK’s biggest names in family entertainment.

https://www.escapadegroup.com/

Why Planning Applications Get Rejected. And How Developers Keep Getting It Wrong

For many homeowners and business owners, a planning refusal arrives with a mixture of disbelief and frustration.

On paper, the project looked sensible. The extension seemed modest. The commercial refurbishment felt practical. So why did the council say no?

The reality is planning refusals are rarely caused by one dramatic mistake. More often, applications fail because several smaller issues begin stacking up against them.

Poor drawings. Weak supporting information. Ignoring local planning policy. Designs that push a site too far. Lack of consideration for neighbours. Individually, these problems may seem manageable. Together, they can quickly derail an application.

Across Northamptonshire and beyond, planning specialists like Northampton-based Amico Designs are seeing more applicants inspired by Pinterest boards, TV renovation shows and developments spotted elsewhere in the UK. The problem? Planning policies are highly localised.

What works perfectly in one town may be completely unacceptable even just a few miles away.

Bad Applications Sink Good Ideas

One of the biggest misconceptions in planning is that the concept itself matters most.

In reality, the quality of the submission can make or break an application before a planning officer even considers the design properly.

Incomplete elevations, vague layouts, inaccurate site measurements and missing contextual information all create uncertainty. If officers cannot fully assess a proposal, support becomes far less likely.

Even excellent architectural ideas can fail if the application lacks detail.

Good planning drawings do far more than showcase a vision. They justify it.

Local Character Still Carries Serious Weight

Modern architecture may be thriving across the UK, but councils still place enormous importance on local character.

In Northamptonshire especially, planning expectations can shift dramatically between urban developments, suburban estates and traditional villages.

Authorities routinely scrutinise:

Rooflines

Building proportions

Material choices

Street appearance

Visual impact on neighbouring properties

That doesn’t mean contemporary design is impossible. Some of the strongest approvals combine modern design with sensitivity to the surrounding environment.

The key is balance, not excess.

When Extensions Simply Go Too Far

Overdevelopment remains one of the biggest causes of refusal.

With construction costs continuing to rise, many applicants understandably try to maximise every inch of available space. But there is usually a tipping point where an extension starts dominating the original property or negatively affecting neighbouring homes.

Councils regularly reject schemes that:

Create overlooking issues

Reduce outdoor space too heavily

Appear cramped on the plot

Add excessive height or bulk

Overwhelm nearby properties

Interestingly, many refusals are not about the principle of development itself. Often, a slightly reduced scale or smarter layout could have secured approval.

Commercial Projects Face Even Tougher Scrutiny

Commercial applications bring another layer of complexity entirely.

Cafés, hospitality venues and retail spaces must address practical operational concerns alongside aesthetics, including parking, extraction systems, customer access, delivery arrangements, noise and operating hours.

Planning officers are not just assessing how a development looks.

They are assessing how it functions in the real world.

Planning Success Starts Earlier Than Most People Think

One of the clearest patterns behind failed applications is poor early-stage planning.

Too many projects move into expensive design work before applicants properly assess local policy, planning history, conservation constraints or neighbour impact.

By the time problems emerge, redesigns can become costly and time-consuming.

As Guv Bhangal, Operations Director at Amico Design, explained to That's Business: “Most planning refusals happen because the application hasn’t properly addressed the site, the surrounding area, or local planning policy from the outset.”

The strongest planning applications rarely happen by accident.

They happen when preparation starts long before submission.

https://www.amicodesign.co.uk/

Digital Oversight Becomes the New Standard for Motor Finance Compliance

The pressure on lenders across the UK motor finance sector is continuing to intensify as regulatory expectations rise, particularly around Consumer Duty, governance and intermediary oversight. 

For many firms, traditional compliance processes built around spreadsheets, emails and manual audits are no longer sustainable at scale.

That shift is now driving a major move towards technology-enabled oversight models, with firms increasingly looking for more agile, transparent and defensible ways to manage broker relationships.

One company helping lead that transition is Oodle Car Finance, which has overhauled its intermediary oversight framework using a digital oversight platform developed in partnership with Auxiga and jaam automation.

Six months after implementing the Auxiga Oversight Portal, Oodle says it has transformed what was previously a highly manual, resource-heavy process into a scalable and standardised governance framework capable of evolving alongside regulation.

Before adopting the platform, intermediary oversight relied heavily on account managers handling individual emails, spreadsheets, Word documents and on-site broker visits. While workable, the process became increasingly difficult to maintain efficiently as oversight demands grew more complex.

Gethin Down, Senior Intermediary Oversight Manager at Oodle Car Finance, told That's Business that the growing demands of Consumer Duty made it clear a more agile system was needed.

The Oversight Portal combines regulatory oversight expertise with automation and AI-enabled workflows, giving lenders a more structured approach to broker compliance management while improving audit visibility and operational consistency.

For Oodle, the rollout has already seen almost 70 brokers onboarded through the platform. The business has replaced fragmented processes with digital attestations, structured audit workflows and clearer board-level reporting visibility.

According to Lisa Attenborrow, Intermediary Onboarding Oversight Manager at Oodle Car Finance, the impact on administration time has been significant, removing much of the manual chasing and document checking previously required.

But beyond operational efficiency, the company believes the platform is changing the relationship between lenders and brokers themselves.

Rather than oversight being viewed as a disruptive or punitive process, the digital model is helping create a more collaborative environment built around transparency, accountability and shared governance standards.

That wider industry shift is something Auxiga believes will accelerate rapidly as lenders continue facing mounting compliance obligations alongside growing intermediary networks.

Paul Neal, Managing Director at Auxiga, said intermediary oversight is increasingly evolving into a strategic control framework rather than a standalone compliance exercise.

Future developments for the Oversight Portal are expected to include enhanced management information dashboards, expanded on-site audit functionality and deeper CRM integration capabilities.

For the wider motor finance sector, the direction of travel now appears increasingly clear: scalable, collaborative and technology-enabled governance is quickly becoming essential rather than optional.

https://vehicleassetsolutions.eu

Xero Spotlight Gives LemonBooking a Major Boost in the Community Venue Sector

Community venue booking platform LemonBooking has received a major endorsement after being selected for the “New & Noteworthy” collection on the homepage of the Xero App Store.

The invitation-only collection highlights newly certified apps that Xero believes are offering something innovative, unique or particularly valuable to customers. 

With the collection displayed across every region where Xero operates, the feature places LemonBooking in front of millions of businesses, accountants and bookkeepers worldwide.

For a growing software platform focused on community venues, it represents a significant moment.

LemonBooking was designed specifically for organisations such as village halls, community centres and sports facilities, helping them manage bookings, websites, invoicing and ticketing from a single platform. The company officially became a Xero-certified app in February 2026, allowing venue operators to automate much of the financial administration that traditionally consumes hours of manual work each month.

Through the integration, invoices and credit notes created inside LemonBooking are automatically pushed into Xero, while reconciled payments in Xero feed back into the booking system. For volunteer-led venues and small administrative teams, the automation could make a major difference.

The Xero feature is also likely to put LemonBooking firmly on the radar of accountants and bookkeepers working with charities, local community organisations and grassroots sports facilities. Apps showcased in curated Xero collections often see a sharp increase in visibility, trial sign-ups and customer enquiries during their featured period.

Paul Grosvenor, co-founder of LemonBooking, described the recognition as an important milestone for the business.

He said: “Being chosen by Xero is a real vote of confidence in what we’ve built. Xero looks at hundreds of apps each month, so to be picked out is a brilliant moment for the team and for the venues who’ve supported us.

“We built LemonBooking to take the friction out of running community venues — and we’d encourage any accountant with clients in this sector to take a look at the listing and get in touch if they’d like a walkthrough.”

As digital tools continue to reshape how community organisations operate, recognition from a major accounting platform like Xero could help LemonBooking accelerate its growth while bringing modern booking and finance automation to a sector that has often been underserved by mainstream software providers.

https://lemonbooking.com

Ethical Procurement Wins Royal Recognition as Ethstat Receives King’s Award for Enterprise

A Croydon social enterprise is proving that even everyday office supplies can help change lives.

Ethstat Ethical Stationery CIC has received a prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development, recognising its work in transforming procurement into a tool for social and environmental change.

The award highlights Ethstat’s mission to help organisations make more ethical purchasing decisions while supporting sustainability, fair employment and responsible supply chains.

Supplying sustainable office products and procurement solutions to major organisations including Nationwide, Greenpeace, Amey and Amnesty International UK, Ethstat has built a business model focused on embedding ethical practices into day-to-day commercial purchasing.

Rather than treating sustainability as a separate initiative, the organisation integrates it directly into procurement, supplier relationships and operational strategy. That approach has delivered measurable results across both environmental and social impact.

According to Ethstat, its work has helped support more than 1,157 Real Living Wage placements and generated over 991,000 hours of Living Wage employment for people facing barriers to work, including prison leavers, people experiencing homelessness, care leavers and families caring for relatives with dementia.

The organisation’s environmental impact has also been significant. Ethstat says its initiatives have helped remove more than 32 million single-use plastics, planted over 27,000 trees and saved more than 2,000 tonnes of CO2 beyond neutrality.

Yasmin Halai-Carter described the award as recognition of a long-held belief that businesses can combine commercial success with genuine social impact.

She said sustainability should not simply exist in reports or marketing campaigns, but should instead be embedded into partnerships, culture, strategy and procurement decisions.

Co-founder and Chief Sustainability Officer Dr Bruce Halai-Carter said procurement remains one of the most overlooked opportunities for businesses to drive positive change.

He added that every purchasing decision reflects the kind of economy an organisation wants to support, and argued that sustainable procurement is now a practical and measurable part of modern business strategy rather than a niche concern.

The recognition comes as businesses across the UK face increasing pressure to demonstrate meaningful action around sustainability, responsible sourcing and ESG performance.

For Ethstat, the King’s Award represents more than a business achievement. It is also a sign that ethical procurement and purpose-led business models are moving firmly into the mainstream.

PipeChain Expands Global Reach With Quyntess Acquisition in Major Supply Chain Tech Move

Swedish supply chain software specialist PipeChain has announced the acquisition of Dutch supply chain technology company Quyntess in a deal set to significantly strengthen its position in the global collaborative supply chain software market.

The acquisition brings together two major players in cloud-based supply chain digitalisation, creating a combined business with annual sales of around €22 million and a yearly ARR run rate of approximately €16 million.

For PipeChain, the move represents a major expansion of both its geographical footprint and technological capabilities. Quyntess already operates across the Benelux region, Germany, France, and the United States, giving PipeChain greater access to key international markets and a broader customer base spanning automotive, retail, and multinational enterprise sectors.

The deal also deepens PipeChain’s ability to support the entire procure-to-pay process, an increasingly critical requirement as businesses seek tighter visibility, automation, and control across global supply chains.

Quyntess brings advanced technology built on modern architectural principles, something PipeChain says will allow substantial improvements across its existing software platform. The combined business plans to accelerate AI-enabled automation, improve supply chain execution, and help businesses shift from reactive management towards more intelligent, data-driven decision-making.

Hans Berggren, CEO and Co-founder of PipeChain, described the acquisition as a “major milestone” for the company.

He said the partnership strengthens PipeChain’s ambition to become the leading collaborative platform for supply chain digitalisation across multiple industries.

According to Berggren, companies operating in increasingly complex global networks need far more than traditional logistics tools. Businesses now require real-time visibility, integrated planning, automated workflows, and intelligent execution systems capable of responding rapidly to disruption and shifting demand.

Quyntess CEO Rob van Ipenburg said the two companies shared a common vision centred on connected, data-driven supply chains.

He added that combining Quyntess’ next-generation technology with PipeChain’s collaborative network expertise would accelerate innovation while delivering stronger end-to-end digitalisation capabilities for customers across Europe, the United States, and beyond.

The acquisition highlights the continued consolidation taking place across the supply chain technology sector as businesses invest heavily in automation, AI integration, and digital transformation following years of global supply chain disruption.

PipeChain was advised on the transaction by DLA Piper, while Quyntess was advised by Marktlink Mergers & Acquisitions and Fruytier Lawyers in Business.

Business Schools Go Hands-On as AI Reshapes Career Skills

As artificial intelligence continues to transform workplaces around the world, one leading European business school is taking an unexpected approach to future-proofing its students: teaching them practical trades alongside management theory.

emlyon business school has partnered with L’atelier des Chefs to offer students on its Master in Management programme the chance to earn a CAP vocational qualification at the same time as completing their business degree.

The initiative reflects a growing belief that while AI may automate many office-based tasks, practical, human-led skills remain far harder to replace.

Students can choose from a wide range of vocational disciplines including culinary arts, pastry-making, carpentry, electrical work and other skilled trades. The training is fully integrated into the academic programme, delivered online and contributes ECTS credits alongside traditional business studies.

Participants complete around 150 hours of theory and 200 hours of practical learning, allowing them to build genuine technical expertise while continuing their university education. Around 50 students are currently enrolled, while more than 100 emlyon students and alumni have already completed CAP qualifications through the partnership.

The move highlights a wider shift in attitudes among younger professionals, many of whom are increasingly interested in combining corporate knowledge with practical, entrepreneurial or creative skills.

Lionel Sitz, Director of the Master in Management programme at emlyon, said the partnership reflects changing student ambitions, with many looking to explore new industries, develop side projects or gain skills that open doors beyond traditional corporate careers.

The figures behind the programme are also revealing. While culinary arts, baking and pastry account for around a quarter of L’atelier des Chefs’ training pathways, the majority focus on sectors such as construction, mechanics, beauty, wellness, health and social care — industries where practical expertise remains in high demand.

For business schools, the partnership signals a broader rethink about what employability looks like in an AI-driven economy.

Isabelle Huault, Executive President and Dean of emlyon business school, described the initiative as part of the institution’s “learning by doing” philosophy, combining managerial education with technical know-how and human-centred professions.

Meanwhile, François Bergerault, co-founder of L’atelier des Chefs and an emlyon graduate, summed up the thinking behind the programme with a memorable line: “The intelligence of the hand is not artificial.”

Former students say the qualifications have already created real-world career advantages. One graduate who completed a culinary qualification during studies at emlyon said it impressed recruiters during interviews and later proved valuable while working as HR Director for a restaurant group, helping bridge the gap between leadership and operational understanding.

As AI continues to reshape white-collar industries, initiatives like this suggest the future of business education may be less about choosing between academic and practical learning — and more about mastering both.