Arla Foods’ Settle creamery came to the rescue of a leading outdoor magazine when the mild autumn and winter meant that North Yorkshire was not the ideal location to be testing down-insulated jackets.
It’s not everyday that the coldstore of a creamery is used for testing the performance of outdoor clothing, but when The Great Outdoors (TGO) magazine got in touch with Arla the site arranged for a section of the refrigerated area to be cordoned off so that a journalist could test the jackets in a cold environment that reflected the temperatures in which they are designed to be used.
TGO journalist, John Manning, said: “The temperature was at a constant 2°C throughout and the large fans which keep the cool air circulating throughout the cold store added an element of wind chill.”
John Collier, despatch team leader at the creamery, said: “It was quite surreal having someone sitting in the coldstore for a day surrounded by butter and testing winter jackets, but ultimately it was nice that the company could help out.”
John added: “We’re extremely grateful to Arla who offered us ideal facilities for conducting the tests.”
In total 15 jackets were put through their paces for the readers of the leading magazine for walkers and backpackers.