A Norfolk farming couple have launched a pig venture which marks an expansion for one of them - and a complete career change for the other.

Will de Feyter and Sarah Hovey, from East Ruston near North Walsham, have based their Green Farm Livestock enterprise on 10 acres of land rented from the de Feyter family's farm in east Norfolk.

A row of 35 secondhand tents has been built, along with outdoor runs, as a nursery unit for 4,000 pigs.

They arrive at four weeks old and leave at 12 weeks to go to another farm, eventually destined for Waitrose via the BQP supply chain.

Miss Hovey, who studied interior design and was previously a property developer, said caring for pigs was not a career she had considered before meeting her farming fiancé three years ago.

"Before this I was doing up houses, doing interior design, getting holiday lets ready for people," she said. "Then I met Will, and now I'm a pig farmer.

"When I tell people, they just think it is hilarious. I was always the arty one.

"But I have always been into business, and this did seem to work for us. We know to the penny what we are going to earn in the year, so we calculated all the costs and we have got a five-year plan."

Mr de Feyter already runs a separate smaller pig nursery and a contract finishing unit as part of his de Feyter Agri livestock business, which includes a sheep flock with 100 breeding ewes.

He said the new opportunity arose after a tenancy was lost on another rented unit.

"There was a gap in the income so we thought: What we do we do? The opportunity arose to buy some secondhand tents, so we did some calculations and decided to go for it.

"We are paid a fixed price per pig per week, so the risk is quite low. They are not our pigs, they are BQP's pigs - they fund the feed and the veterinary side, we fund the labour, straw and housing.

"For every batch, after eight weeks, we will empty out and drag the tents onto fresh ground, so you've got the fertiliser value from the muck where the pigs have been.

"My advice would be: never dismiss anything. You don't know when these opportunities will appear. If you think you can do it, go for it."