I STILL remember the excitement I felt when, wandering around a small shop to pick up bottled water on an island off the coast of Thailand, I saw a shelf lined with packs of Tyrrells crisps.

A small thing perhaps, but a little bit of Herefordshire in South East Asia. It's fair to say Tyrrells – the handmade crisps made from potatoes grown here in the county – can now be found in all corners of the world.

The business has come a long way since being launched by William Chase at Tyrrells Court Farm in 2002.

In 2013 the company was acquired by Investcorp for £100million and in 2015 it subsequently acquired Yarra Valley Snack Foods – an Australian business – followed by German company Aroma Snacks in May 2016.

In August last year, the firm, which now sells popcorn and other savoury snacks alongside its traditional premium hand-cooked potato and vegetable crisps, agreed to be bought by American snack firm Amplify Snack Brands Inc, best known for its SkinnyPop popcorn brand, in a £300million deal.

The company's David Milner was made President International of Amplify Snack Brands and has recently taken on the additional role of CEO UK and Europe.

But despite the business' huge, international success, its roots are still firmly in Herefordshire.

Talking about the acquisition, Cath White, marketing manager at Tyrrells, said: "It's business as usual for us. We are still based at Tyrrells Court Farm and our potato crisps still amount to 75 per cent of the business.

"Our availability and distribution now is pretty broad and the good news is that more people than ever can buy Tyrrells."

And that, in turn, is also good news for Herefordshire.

"Herefordshire is on every bag, the products are made with Herefordshire potatoes which are planted here. It's still such a Herefordshire success story," she said.

A huge part of sales – 30 per cent – now come from the export market and the product is particularly popular with the French.

And the company is continuously looking at innovative new ideas for products.

"Innovation is something that Tyrrells has always been very good at and busy with," said Cath.

"Our popcorn was launched in 2011 as Proper Popcorn [the name was changed to Poshcorn about a year and a half ago] and there are new flavours emerging from that."

The company will now also be responsible for the SkinnyPop brand in the UK and is currently preparing the launch of the product's website.

While the SkinnyPop brand is popular with people who purchase it for wellbeing or weight management reasons – it contains no artificial ingredients, is non GMO, gluten free, dairy free, preservative free, no artificial flavours, zero trans fat, a good source of fibre and only 98 calories – the Poshcorn is still popular with those wanting to sit back with a snack while enjoying a film at home.

There's no resting on laurels at Tyrrells though – the firm is currently looking at seasonal flavours for its crisps such as goats cheese and rosemary for a summer launch – and that is perhaps one of the reasons that makes it such a huge Herefordshire success story.