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Why Elf Chose a Farm as Home

July 30, 2026

Roughly a 5 minute read by Emma Readhead

If you’ve ever visited Elf Marketing’s offices, there’s a good chance you’ve been greeted by something you won’t find at your average marketing agency. We’re a marketing agency based on a working farm in the heart of the North York Moors National Park, we’re surrounded by wildlife and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

For most companies, ‘unique office space’ means hot desking and access to a ping-pong table. For us, it means beams, original stable doors and panoramic views of the moors. The decision to go against the grain was made back in 2016 when founder Emma Foster was balancing company growth alongside raising her children. Believing that flexibility and family life shouldn’t have to compete with running a successful business, location became key to unlocking the opportunity to do both. It also meant she could build a team in the local community, achieving her aspirational milestone of giving people nearby the chance to build creative careers, without having to leave the area to fulfil one.

More Than an Office, A Way of Working

Today, that decision reflects how the company works: flexibly, collaboratively, and with a strong sense of place. In an industry that so often prizes hustle and city-centre postcodes, Elf has built something different. The result is a high-performing team, delivering both regional and national-brand marketing campaigns for the hospitality sector and beyond.

It’s not just the founder who feels the benefit. Elf provides exciting career opportunities for people living in the local area, using home-grown talent. Ask the wider Elf team, and a clear picture emerges of what working on a farm in the Yorkshire Moors means day to day:

• The quality of life.
  The rural setting brings a genuinely calmer pace to daily life at Elf, without the noise and stress of a busy town-centre office.
• A calm commute.
  Instead of queuing in traffic, the team’s journey to work winds through the rolling hills of the Yorkshire Moors – a far cry from the average agency commute.
• A restorative lunch break.
  When the weather allows, the whole team gathers in the garden, overlooking the moors, for lunch at the picnic table together. Eating lunch together as a group, every day, has become a quiet but powerful part of Elf’s culture and wellbeing.

From Pig Sheds to Pitch Decks

The transformation from farm outbuilding to fully functioning marketing HQ didn’t happen overnight. Long before Elf Marketing existed, the buildings housed pigs. In more recent years, they became a dumping ground for family ‘junk’ – until an epic clear-out in 2016 changed everything.

“The offices were split into five small sections. We wanted to make the best use of the space and so created the upper and lower sections of the office, as well as the entrance and kitchen area. It was important that we kept as many of the original features as possible, including the beams, brick walls and original stable doors – oh, and the pig troughs which you can see on the external wall of the bottom office.”

The result is a workspace that feels genuinely rooted in its history, a rare thing in an industry often defined by identical co-working spaces and glass-walled city offices.

“Only at Elf” Moments

Ask anyone on the team and they’ll have a farmyard tale up their sleeve, because working at Elf comes with a cast of characters you simply won’t find at your average agency. There was the day a herd of cows decided the office car park was the perfect spot for a leisurely stroll (no, that’s not a metaphor for a busy Monday, actual cows). Then there’s Philip the pheasant, a semi-regular visitor who’s taken to tapping on the glass doors like he’s got a 10am meeting booked in. And of course, last year’s most dedicated team member: Shaun the sheep with his daily habit of headbutting the office door, rain or shine, seemingly determined to clock in. Turns out when your office is on a farm, “who’s at the door?” is never a straightforward question.

The Right Call, From Day One

Every founder faces a moment of doubt when making an unconventional choice. For Elf, that moment never really came.

“It was 100% the right call. It allowed me to progress from going to work in my house, wearing slippers, to leaving the house and walking to Elf HQ in actual shoes – my shoe wardrobe increased significantly as a result!
The beauty of the offices being behind my house is the flexibility to work and look after my children around school hours, without having to drive to offices. We are so lucky to be in the North York Moors and have such wonderful views around us. I would say if you have the opportunity, don’t hesitate!”

Fancy seeing the farm for yourself? Get in touch with the Elf Marketing team to talk about your next campaign – just don’t be surprised if you receive a wild welcome on the way in.