When Caroline Murphy used to visit family in west Cork on holidays, it became a running joke that the London girl would one day settle down there.

“My aunts would be like: ‘We have a lovely farmer for you,’” she laughs. “And I’d be like: ‘No way.’”

But even her aunts wouldn’t have predicted that not only would Caroline meet and marry a farmer, but she’d also start West Cork Eggs with just four hens – and a wing and a prayer.

We’re sitting at the kitchen table of the family home outside Rosscarbery that Caroline shares with her husband, dairy farmer Batt, their four children – Billy (12), Kaitlin (10), Callum (nine) and Izzy (four) – and 1,400 feathered friends.

She has been up since 6.30am on a delivery route that took her to Millstreet, Kanturk, Charleville, Kinsale and Carrigaline – just some of the 12 SuperValus she has supplied since spring.

It’s a world away from north London where she was born and raised by Irish parents.

“Ireland was never alien,” she says, pausing to butter a scone, “but at the same time I was very much a London girl.”

In the city, Caroline worked in finance, recruitment and management, but 16 years ago she came to Ireland for a year.

“Six months later I met Batt ... and before I knew it we were married,” she says. “It was only the day after my wedding I realised: ‘Oh! I’m never going to live in London again.’”

Indeed, after being made redundant shortly afterwards, Caroline found herself working on the farm alongside Batt, while also trying to build a new life in the countryside.

“It can be very difficult making friends,” she admits. “You’ll meet people that you like and you’ll meet people that you think will be your friends, but they turn out not to be, and not everybody will like you.

“But you have to take the time to put yourself out there and say: ‘Hi, I’m Caroline,’ and get involved.”

The arrival of the children helped with making connections, but she had no grand plan in mind when she first started keeping poultry.

“We lost a baby in 2009 and for some reason after that I said: ‘I’ll get hens.’ I was looking for a distraction, I suppose,” she explains. “So we got four hens. At that time, everybody seemed to be getting hens. It was the done thing.”

Starting with a hen house from eBay and learning as she went along, Caroline slowly expanded her flock and started giving eggs to friends and family, who raved about the free-range produce.

In 2013, however, she worked up the courage to approach Eugene Scally of Scally’s SuperValu in Clonakilty to see if he would be interested in selling her eggs.

“One thing I’ve learned is just ask. The worst they can say is no,” says Caroline of conquering lack of confidence.

“I’ve always shopped in Scally’s and I’d say: ‘I’ll do it this week, I’ll do it this week,’ and it was just that my friend was down for Kaitlin’s communion and she said: ‘Come on. We’ll go and do it.’

“And he just said ‘yes’, just like that. But he also gave a great piece of advice: ‘If the customer will buy it, we’ll continue to sell.’”

After registering with the Department of Agriculture, Caroline sourced a second-hand egg grader and rented a Portakabin for €30 a week to serve as a packing centre. Starting with an initial delivery of 60 boxes a week, she’s now supplying 200 to Scally’s – but says you have to go the extra mile to grow sales.

“No one likes going up to strangers saying: ‘Hello, I’m Caroline, would you like to hear about my new product?’” she says. “But you have to put in the groundwork.”

Which stood to her when, with support from her local enterprise board and the SuperValu Food Academy, Caroline was granted a trial with 11 other SuperValu stores in Cork. She had just weeks to expand her flock from 200 to 1,400 hens, as well as buying a new mobile hen house, amounting to a total investment of approximately €70,000.

As well as SuperValu stores, local shops are key to the business (she has approximately 20 stockists in total and five food service customers), and since the expansion, Caroline has taken on help to collect, grade and box the eggs while she deals with deliveries, accounts, stock control, marketing and social media – not to mention family and home responsibilities.

However, she has learned to delegate as there are “only so many hours in the day.”

“You try to be superwoman – and it just doesn’t exist,” she says. “I think women are very good at beating themselves up about not getting everything done. I still do it, but as Elsa (in Frozen) says: ‘Let it go.”

Caroline’s next challenge is to grow the business. One of her ideas is teaming up with other like-minded women or men in west Cork to sell their eggs under the brand, keeping the family farm principals to the fore.

But for anybody wanting to start their own business, Caroline says that sometimes you just have to take “a leap of faith”. And she’s proof of what you can achieve with some beginner’s pluck.

“Don’t regret what you did do,” she says. “Regret what you didn’t do.”

For further information, call 086-601-7677 or visit www.facebook.com/westcorkeggs