Feature Member Spotlight
HOME
IS WHERE THE
Heart Lands
Story by Katie Ward, photos by Morgan Figgins
And if you’re the Hopkins sisters of Lewes, Delaware, it’s ‘Home is where the Hopkins Heartland is’. Amy and Ingrid Hopkins are fifth generation family farmers who merged two separate passions on their family’s preserved century farm to create a unique destination wedding location with multiple venues and accommodations.
T
he Hopkins farm in Sussex County, Delaware, was purchased more than five generations ago with the intent to start a dairy operation to support the family and generations to come. That dream beyond succeeded, and is now home to multiple thriving businesses that support three families, the community, and a legacy. Ingrid Hopkins decided to return
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home to the farm after more than 20 years in the veterinary medicine and horse training industries to turn their 200-year-old family farmhouse into a bed & breakfast in 2015. “When I was living in Florida, I would read the Leader magazine every quarter,” shares Ingrid. “The inspiration of seeing what the next generation of farmers is capable of, especially people that I knew, is what fueled me to
return to the farm and create something magnificent. It gave me the launch pad to be able to pitch my business models to my dad when I came back.” Amy Hopkins lead a similar path and returned back to the farm nearly a decade ago to turn her beekeeping hobby into a honey business while continuing her career as an aerospace executive. She purchased a 100 acre farm right across the road from her family’s farm to grow her hives, and leased the tillable land back to her family to farm. “I never would have thought I’d be yearning so hard to come back to the farm,” says Amy. “I knew I had to figure out a way to contribute, but milking cows wasn’t my favorite chore. I enjoyed growing and producing something to sell — so the honeybee avenue was a perfect fit.” The Hopkins sisters have spent the past few years learning about their new business ventures and how to grow in these new markets. Ingrid took business and marketing classes and Amy took honeybee classes through the University of Delaware Extension. By 2019, Ingrid had expanded the bed & breakfast, called the Covered Bridge Inn, into a full on-farm wedding venue that had taken off, and Amy had successfully grown Hopkins Homestead with up to 25 beehives, selling raw, unfiltered honey to local restaurants, stores, and farmers markets. And then, they had an ‘aha’ moment. “We realized that some wedding customers only wanted a single-day venue, but the Covered Bridge Inn is a full weekend package with the bed & breakfast,” explains Ingrid. “It was sort of a ‘what if’ idea to transition the unused barn on Amy’s farm into a smaller, hourly rental venue, and it quickly grew into a detailed business plan.” By now, Amy and Ingrid were experts at presenting new ideas to their father, Walter Hopkins, who still manages Hopkins Farm. What proved to be the biggest challenge for this new wedding venue idea wasn’t approval from their father, but from local and state legislation. The Hopkins sisters testified twice on state bills for agri-tourism on preserved land in Delaware — once for the Covered Bridge Inn a few years ago, and again in 2019 for the new wedding venue. “With our farm being on preserved
