The team at a Tong Garden Centre has sourced spirits for its Hearty's Food Hall brand from artisan producers in East and North Yorkshire.

Buyers at the garden centre selected two family-owned businesses to produce premium spirits for the Hearty's signature gin range. The range comprises premium and fruit flavoured gins from young business, Hooting Owl Distillery near Pocklington in East Yorkshire and fruit gins and gin gifts from established artisan producer, Raisthorpe Manor near Malton. Two of Hooting Owl Distillery's premium gins and two flavoured ones plus six Raisthorpe products will make up the initial Hearty's ‘lovingly made' gin range.

Tong's Head of Food, Sarah Dwyer is excited about the new addition to the Hearty's range: "Hooting Owl gin tastes amazing and the story of how they found a recipe for gin when renovating their former coaching house and the provenance of their ingredients made it a natural choice.

"The team at Raisthorpe craft delicious gins and liqueurs using old family recipes and the finest ingredients, often foraged from the local hedgerows. We're thrilled that they will be making a range of products for us, including their award-winning gins and innovative gin liqueur stackers that make great gifts."

The former Food Hall at Tong Garden Centre was rebranded ‘Hearty's' earlier this year and and the Hearty's branded range of all Yorkshire products also includes beer, sweets, jam and biscuits.

Tong Garden Centre occupies a 19 acre site in Tong village. It is one of Yorkshire's biggest independent garden centres with 125,000 square feet of retail space and parking for up to 700 cars.