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Farmer reaps love's rewards
Finding love is harder than finding a needle in a haystack if you're single and you live in the Derbyshire countryside.
Wedding rates among the under 30s in Derbyshire are dropping and 4.4 per cent of the households are single occupancy, with 6.7per cent lone parent households, research reveals. Prospects are worse for women, who outnumber men in the county by 11,3002
But young rural entrepreneur James Vestbirk found a novel way to beat the odds – he himself launched a dating website and landed himself a girl!
James, 23, is the mastermind behind www.kissinggates.com, a new website designed to help country-minded people find fun, friendship and romance.
James, a familiar face at Bakewell farmers' market, developed the website after returning home to his family farming business in Lincolnshire after a decade spent away at school in Rutland and at Newcastle University.
He soon found himself a reluctant member of a self-styled lonely hearts club, spending his evenings in the pub waiting in vain for love to happen along.
He says: "I came home to learn the farming industry and I quickly realised how hard it is to meet new people in close-knit rural communities, particularly single girls!
"Sadly, my only regular dates were with a group of male drinking companions, just as frustrated as me about the lack of romantic opportunities. And it's not just the young guys struggling – the oldest was 53."
Just seven weeks after launching rural dating site www.kissinggates.com James found himself a girlfriend. Emma Davies, from South Yorkshire, signed up after moving to Market Rasen just last year.
She says: "I'd never been on an online dating site before so I was naturally nervous. But when I got talking to James I soon discovered we had a lot in common. It took just a couple of weeks to agree to a meeting and after just five dates, here I am in a relationship!"
Throughout November and December, the peak time for internet dating site sign-ups2, the site is offering special sign-up rates.
While not the only dating site tailored for rural communities, kissinggates.com is one of the largest, with access to the profiles of 80,000 potential daters from all over the UK.
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Weather for Buxton
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Heavy snow
Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
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Wind direction: South
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