When in Frome Unfiltered
When in Frome Unfiltered is the home for all the conversations too good to leave on the cutting room floor. From long form interviews to unedited moments at local events, this feed gives you the full stories behind the voices of Frome. If you love the main When in Frome podcast, this is where you'll find everything we couldn't squeeze into the monthly episode.
When in Frome Unfiltered
Vallis Farm
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Sonia visits Vallis Farm to meet Tamsin Westbrook, Head of Land and Learning, and discovers a place where food, wildlife, creativity and community all come together.
From wildflower meadows to natural swimming, plant dyeing, workshops, young people’s projects and a sauna with a serious sense of purpose, Vallis is far more than a farm.
It;s a conversation about biodiversity, belonging, learning new skills and why getting outside might just be one of the best things we can do.
Much work around the area, they kind of trash the soil. So I just got them to make a nice tilth and just sowed a load of wildflower seed in there. I've been trying to get um a wildflower meadow established in this front area here where it's not quite so diverse. Um, but it takes a really long time to establish a perennial meadow. So that perennial meadow is what you really want. A lot of that is annual, and it's all still good for pollinators, but perennial meadow is it will regulate itself, yeah, and it comes back every year and it outcompetes the grass. So I've sown yellow rattle, which is a parasitic plant which basically outcompetes the grass and then allows other wildflower seed to come in.
SPEAKER_01And um, how long does that take?
SPEAKER_02It's finally taken! I've I've finally found some. I've got really excited about it. It's just this tiny little yellow plant, and yeah, it's finally taken, so I'm quite excited about that.
SPEAKER_01But it doesn't, it doesn't uh as a parasitic plant, it doesn't then spend parasitic on grass.
SPEAKER_02Only on grass, yeah, and that's where you want to get rid of the cooch grass so that you can get other other wildflowers established in that space.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so how long does that will that take to establish the perimeter?
SPEAKER_02I mean it over time, and we we've been cutting it and raking it, and that we occasionally run the sheep on it for about three years.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_02So it will get there in the end, but dedication. Yeah, yeah, and we do scythe it as well, and we've actually got a scything workshop at the end of July, so hopefully we'll get them to do it for free, but then we'll have to rake all the grass up as well. So yeah, and there's possibly workshops.
SPEAKER_01So tell me about the workshops that you run.
SPEAKER_02Um, so one of the first things that we when we set up the farm, um my background's in education, so I wanted there to be an educational element to the farm, and workshops is a really good way of bringing in additional income. So um we host our own sort of gardening workshops here and land-based workshops, so tithing obviously being one of them. I've got a no-dig veg workshop happening this Saturday, and then throughout the year we've got other um land-based workshops. So in July, we've got a how to grow your own dye garden coming up, which is really exciting. So, one of my colleagues, Poppy, who actually trained here, her background was originally in textiles and fine art.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02So she was really keen to learn more about natural dyes and how to grow those plants. So when she was doing her apprenticeship here, I basically set her the project of like grow a dye garden and establish one, and she did. And she managed to like she's made these beautiful napkins, these linen napkins that she's dyed using plants that she grew here.
SPEAKER_01So, what are the plants that you're growing?
SPEAKER_02So that you can make dye from a lot of different plants, including like nettles, rosemary's a really good one. Um, she's using a lot of Rebecca, there's some scabius in there, um, a lot of annuals. Hollyhock's one of them as well, actually, which is really dark, dark, sort of almost black flower. Um, and then she's growing these, they're called hopi sunflowers, and they're like almost black, the the dye that comes off them. It's really interesting, like the what the colour of the plant and then the colour of the dye are not the same.
SPEAKER_01They're not related, not at all.
SPEAKER_02So with rosemary, because she said, Oh, I really want to make a green one. And I was like, What do you mean? Surely all plants are green. And she said, But it's really hard to get a green dye from a plant. So if you use rosemary, you get like this lilac colour.
SPEAKER_01Really?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's really beautiful. And nettle, I think, is almost like a sort of purple gray.
SPEAKER_01The flowers are light on rosemary are a lilac colour.
SPEAKER_02So that's what you get, that's the similar colour to what you actually get when you use it to dye. Incredible! Yeah, yeah. So she's running that in July. So you're making the dyes from scratch, from the flowers themselves. How to dry them, how to then use it for a dye, and then the end product. And the other thing that she's she's doing is we've we do have sheep here which don't belong to us, we kind of provide grazing because we they're just lombowers for us essentially. Um, but we're taking the fleece and then we're gonna have it spun and see if we can dye it as well. So you're doing that as a workshop as well? That won't be a workshop, that's just our experiment to see if we can do it.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um, maybe make some ballet jumpers, who knows? Fantastic. Um and then if it if it works out, then then we'll run a workshop on it. We'll figure out how to do it and then we'll show other people how to do it. Great, okay.
SPEAKER_01So, what else have you got coming up in July?
SPEAKER_02Um in July we've got, I'm trying to think now. Oh well, in September, which is going a little bit further forward, we've got I run a design, garden design workshop. Yeah, so in the summer holidays, most people are going away, so we tend to kind of lighten up on the workshops then, and then we bring them back from September and then back into next spring. So in September I'll be running the garden design workshop, and then in October we've got our foraging lunch. So we do two of those a year, spring and an autumn.
SPEAKER_01And is your garden that because I heard you talking over lunch about a garden workshop that you do that? Right, so that runs over several weekends.
SPEAKER_02Yes, so we've well I'm now also I've moved into uh writing accredited courses. So if you want to make a career out of uh market gardening or land management, then we can create a course for it and it will be accredited, which means that you can put that on your CV. It's not just a lovely workshop that you've been to for a day, it's an actual you know, you've you've written an assessment and you've you've been you've been taught, let's say. Um so what I wanted to what I started by writing was a market gardening course because when I changed career about eight years ago, there wasn't one. That's and I knew that's what I wanted to do, so I wanted to grow food and I wanted to work in sustainability somehow. Um, and I thought at the very least I can feed my family. But there weren't any courses, there was no courses on market gardening, just didn't exist. Um, and I couldn't afford to go back to university and study ecology, and then so I ended up doing an apprenticeship in horticulture.
SPEAKER_01Fantastic.
SPEAKER_02Which I really enjoyed, you know. I and I learned an awful lot and I don't regret it at all, but that wasn't what I'd originally wanted to do. Um, and I made sure that my apprenticeship was at a place where there was a market garden, or we we were setting one up, so I was involved in the setting up of that. So I did get to learn to grow food, but in a sort of roundabout way. Um, so yeah, I wrote I basically wrote the course for me eight years ago. Yeah, and interestingly, all the people that are on the course are pretty much me eight years ago. They're all women, um, and they're they all want to do something different, and and you know, they they want to learn how to how to grow food, but you know, whole also how to like make a job out of it, because that's that's the really challenging.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so you you're you're running a course right now and you're part way through it, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So we're a third of the way through. Um, so it's the first year of that course, and we'll run it every year. And I can because we've now got this accreditation, if there's a demand for a particular course, then I can write it. Okay. We can run it.
SPEAKER_01So how if uh you're going to start an the next course after this one, when do people have to let you know their interest in it?
SPEAKER_02So we'll put it up online. So the market gardening course, I'm gonna put that for next year, I'm gonna put that online this week. So it will be available.
SPEAKER_01On the Ballast Farm website.
SPEAKER_02On the Ballast Farm website, just go to events and all our courses and events are on there. Um, but also if anyone is particularly interested in learning about something, then let me know because I can I can write a course on it.
SPEAKER_01Amazing. Yeah, amazing, okay. And I mean I'm looking around me and you've got a fabulous market garden here. Yes. And I've just had the most delicious lunch in your kitchen, and I believe every single bit of that came from this garden.
SPEAKER_02It did. Well, it came from that garden. So if you cast your eye in that direction, that's our market garden. Where we're sitting now is the kitchen garden.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, so when we when I first came here, which is about four years ago, um, none of this was here.
SPEAKER_01So this is all you, is it?
SPEAKER_02It's yeah, I did it all myself. Um it was my a lot of it's my design, and we've got a really good team who are quite flexible and quite strong because we we made these beds in that barn. You definitely need muscle to do this. Yeah, um, so we we've you know we've been really lucky with the people that we've worked with and and work here on the farm. You know, they're all up for a challenge, which is quite useful. But the first thing I did was I yeah, I put in the market garden. That was um that was key for me to be able to provide food for the community. So we set up a box scheme, we don't use any chemicals. Um, you know, as whatever we do here, every decision we make has to improve biodiversity and not damage it in any way, um, and hopefully sequester carbon as well. So we're managing to do that and grow food. So we started the box scheme three three years ago, and it's it's been really successful. At the same time, you know, we were renovating the outdoor space here because the the the man who owns the farm he lives here, so these are his is his space as well. Um, and this area had previously been a menage, so the previous owner had kept horses, and we couldn't plant into it because there was no soil, it was just sand and then aggregate and then subsoil. So we had to raise the beds. So what we did was came up with a kitchen garden design and using steel for the beds because it it doesn't rot essentially. If I'd used timber, it would have cost probably half what the steel did, but within five years we would have had to completely replace it. So at least with this, it it lasts a long time. Um, and it also extends the growing season because they get quite warm in the sunshine. We're not full sun on this side of the house, so you know it's it's nice and warm, um, quite well protected because we've got the woodland on the other side. So it's um the kitchen garden space is is partly for show, but it is for teach the teaching tool as well. So it's um cut flowers, plants for pollinators, edible, medicinal, and um what else have we got? Some annual veg as well and some perennial. We've also got a lot of dahlias in which our head gardeners uh curated. I'm really excited to see what she's chosen this year as well. So there's yeah, there's tons going on, but also it's just a really nice space to spend time in.
SPEAKER_01So you're also selling the cut flowers as well as the vegetables?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I will be selling so this year we're we're moving into a bit more into cut flowers, so we've got a space out in the forest garden just beyond the pond where we put a lot of annuals in as well. And because our main focus here is about improving biodiversity. The first thing I wanted to do when I came here was put in a pond because there's no standing water, and when you put standing water in, you add another layer of biodiversity. So, swallows, for example, they drink on the wing. Um, and we just didn't have any here. And that is this is a farm, like we should be have loads of them. There should be swifts and swallows all over the place. Um, and but putting in a pond that works for people and wildlife isn't as easy as it sounds. Because if you want to swim in it, you've got to have a particular design that keeps itself clean, but you know, works for both people and wildlife. So I had to figure out how to do that. We also had to get planning permission. We also had to then um you heard of biodiversity in that game, which is now every time you you create something that needs planning permission, you have to prove that you're gonna improve that biodiversity of that particular patch by 110%. If you can't, then you have to buy those credits from someone who can in their own space, and I don't want to do that because I'm not I'm not a big fan of BNG, I think it's it's just another carbon credit. Um, so we had to then have a survey done of the space, prove that we were gonna improve it, um, and then figure out how to design it. So it took a lot longer to do that than anything else, but well, you've seen the end product, and I'm I'm pretty sure.
SPEAKER_01It's surrounded by lilies, yeah, and the water's super fresh, it's crystal clear. You can drink that water, and um yeah, and and I love the fact you you've got your shower set up and strict regulations, you know, once you come out of the swim, you'll have a quick rinse before you get in the pond. Yeah, um, it's so beautifully set up, it's really well done. So, how long did that take to create?
SPEAKER_02So, we the dig actually started last January and we opened it in July, so it was about six months from actually breaking ground to you know getting in it and having a swim and a sauna. So the sauna was like the last thing to turn up and it came all the way from Lithuania.
SPEAKER_01So, is that is that new? This this is all quite relatively new, the sauna and ponds.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, um, so because like I say, well, I I'd planned it from the very beginning, but to actually get to the point of digging a pond takes quite a long time because you've got to submit a design, all that all of that stuff. Wait for your planning permission to come through. Um, but as soon as we did it, a whole other layer of life moved onto the farm. So this you know, on in my on my first swim, a swallow just kind of dipped in front of me and took a drink, and it was just like, yes, this is it.
SPEAKER_01Mission accomplished.
SPEAKER_02Well, we've got great crested newts in there, and this is year two, so it was just amazing, you know. Incredible. Um I'm so incredibly happy. Um, and you know, what and again one of the one of the first things we did was was put loads of trees in. We planted trees because they sequester carbon, and you know, the best time to plant a tree is five years ago, second best time is now. Um, and we're coming up to four years as it is, so you know, we're we're seeing those that those trees flourishing and and and producing fruit and sequestering that carbon. So we we've kind of got this now framework. You know, this was just a blank field, there was nothing here.
SPEAKER_01I can't imagine it.
SPEAKER_02I actually can't picture because it's just teaming with life yesterday of what it looked like is just my dog and a field, and that is it, there's nothing else there, and now you've got this huge amount of undulation, all these plants, you know, all these trees. It's like literally buzzing with life. Um, and you know, one of the things, particularly after the pond had gone in, we were like, Well, we need to be able to share this space even more. You know, we've got people coming up for workshops, and you know, other people hire the space as well to deliver workshops, supper clubs, that kind of thing. Um, but people were often saying, like, we want to come here all the time. Yeah, well, they can't because it's a working farm, so you can't have people wander up. So we worked out this Friends of Ballet scheme where people can access the farm on particular days. So we know that we can't be doing you know lots of machinery work on days where there's there's people here. So we have specific days when they can come up and they can book a slot to have a swim or a sauna. Um and it started just like that.
SPEAKER_01It was very, very if I want to come back to use the sauna, I need to sign up. As a member. As a member of Friends of Vallis.
SPEAKER_02Yes, so that's £40 for a whole year. Okay, and then that allows you to then go in and book a slot. So it's £12 for a swim and sauna, and £8 for just a swim. Sometimes we don't open the sauna, it's just for swimming.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um and that's open how many times a week? It's open every Thursday. Um, swimming, it's open Monday, Wednesday, Friday morning, and two Saturdays a month is swim and sauna as well. So it's primarily for wildlife, which is why it's not open to people all the time. Because we do get occasionally get people saying, Well, it's not fair, I I want to come and swim on uh on this particular day. And we were like, Well, it's not just for you, yeah, it's it's primarily for wildlife. If it was full of people all the time, it'd be like soup, and it just wouldn't work for anyone.
SPEAKER_01So, and then can you tell me you just mentioned supper clubs? Yes. So if someone wants to rent the space for a supper club, how does it go through the friends of Vallis?
SPEAKER_02No, so that's a separate thing. That's because we can the space is available to hire essentially for events to be running an event. So, for example, this weekend we've got a cinnamon bun making workshop coming in the house. Um, we have like baby massage every Monday, there's qigung, I think twice a week. No, once a week. Um, we've got two yoga classes, so there's just stuff happening all the time, which anyone can book on to.
SPEAKER_01And I also when I was over lunch, I heard people talking about um there's a baby group.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's that they're just g women who came up as as members, and there's a group of them, they come up every Thursday, and they're they're sort of growing in number, and there's they ended up like there's kind of babies on the floor in the living room, which is absolutely fine. But we thought, well, wouldn't it be safer if we just gave them another space? Yeah, so and we've got we happen to have another rentable space upstairs, and we've just said if it's not being used, you can have that, and then they can they don't have to worry about anyone spilling coffee on their baby's head or whatever.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02Um, so yeah, we you know that's that's one of the benefits of of this as a community is that it that's what it is, it's not just a kind of you pay your fee, you turn up and swim, and you go home. People there are people here who know each other because they come here and have made friends because they come here, and that's that's what we wanted. You know, we want people to engage with us and with the space as well and learn a bit more about being here. You know, I just mentioned people kind of complaining about not being able to swim all the time, but when I explain to them like you're not the only person using that pool, we it's it's for a whole plethora of life. They're then like, Oh yeah, I get it. Oh, that's really cool. Yeah. You've got a great crested newt, and that you've got this barn owl, and that you've got you know, and and they suddenly understand and they don't have a problem with it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, and I think that's really important that this is a shared space, not just for people, but for wildlife. Um biodiversity.
SPEAKER_01Well, two of the ladies that I was speaking to in the sauna said um one of their favourite things about coming to the sauna is feeling like they can have a chat with other people in the community, yeah. And that it doesn't need to be anything more than that. Yeah, you know, that it's a safe space, you can have a chat with real people in real life, yeah, and and then you walk away, and you know, there's no kind of need to meet up or do anything, but you might make friends, you might not. Yeah, do you know? Yeah, I think that's really lovely.
SPEAKER_02That's what's really important to us is that it's for everybody, and it is yeah, it's not bougie at all. Okay, it's pretty down to earth.
SPEAKER_01Um, and you were telling me about a CIC that you've just set up.
SPEAKER_02Yes, so um now that it's finished, the far no, it's not finished, but um we've done a lot and I'm mega mega proud of it. And I've also now got this amazing team who can just get on with it, you know. Like I can re I really trust them, and they're they're they've really risen to the challenge of of managing this space. I'm now able to focus on another challenge, another project. And for me, I become being an ex-teacher, but also being a parent of two teenagers, I'm becoming really concerned about this generation for a variety of reasons. Um youth unemployment is incredibly high, and it doesn't matter whether you leave school with no GCSEs or you leave university with a first in business, you can't get a job. It's it's incredibly challenging and difficult. And then, even if you do, how will you ever afford to have a mortgage? You know, these really different times. I grew up in the 90s, and yeah, I went to university for free, and I got I walked straight into a job. I I just got on a train and moved to London and got a job within a week. Like that just doesn't happen anymore, and I I think there's a there's a real unfairness in that, and we've got a responsibility as the generation above to help them. Whether you've got kids or not, it doesn't matter because if they're not paying taxes, we're not picking up a pension. So we need to make sure that this this machine keeps moving. Yeah, um, whether we're you know we like the machine or not, we're all in it, and then you've got other issues. COVID really messed everything up, so that like school attendance is incredibly poor, mainly down to that. There are other you know, other kind of impacts that it's had that you know we all get, we've all we've all experienced in one way or another.
SPEAKER_01So is what's your CIC focus then?
SPEAKER_02So it's about creating pathways into employment in the land based industry in the short term, in the in the like as a short term explanation. Um so what originally what I wanted to do was do apprenticeships here, so post 16 apprenticeships in horticulture and regenerative agriculture. Um, and that's still the goal. It is a long-term goal to set up something like that is quite a big deal. But as I was doing my research, I realised that if you leave school at 16 and start a horticultural qualification, having never ever done any horticultural or farm work before, why why would you do it? Like, there is no reason to do it, and you might get halfway through and drop out because you realise it's not for you, and that that's the the dropout rate for apprenticeships is 40%. Our dropout rate for our apprentices here on the farm was 40%, and this is a this is a good place to work, you know. You get a whole variety of things to learn about, you're not just cutting grass all day long, like if you if you were at the council, let's say. So um I just thought, well, we need to then get them a bit earlier and provide good work experience, so work experience placements, and then this whole problem with NEETs is quite a quite an issue. So these are people who've who've left school between 18 to 25, they're not in education, employment, or training, you know, they've kind of fallen through the cracks already. How do we get bring those back in? So providing work placements through the Department for Work and Pensions to get them, you know, actually out and about and active and doing something, but also finding something that they enjoy and see a purpose in. Um and then I was like, actually, we need we need to get them a bit younger than that, even we need to get them off their screens and outside because outside I think just fixes everything, it makes you more confident. You're you have to make mistakes and you have to take risks, and these are the things that that bring you up and and and make you understand what it is that you want to be and what you want to do, as well as just being good for you, right? It's helpful.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Um, so we decided to set up a youth club, and for teenagers, so we've got a 12 to 14 category, 14 to 16 and 16 to 18. Okay. And the idea is that you know the younger groups they just they do what they want, they mess around, you know, they might do a bit of habitat creation, or they might just cook on the fire, or they might just play hide and seek. Like it doesn't matter as long as they're outside and they're enjoying themselves.
SPEAKER_01How often does that take place?
SPEAKER_02So that's every week in term time.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um, after school.
SPEAKER_01Every single evening?
SPEAKER_02No, just once a week.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02And then um, and that won't happen probably. We haven't gone a full cycle yet, but we're we'll probably stop doing it over the winter because it's too dark. Um, and then punctuate it with like full days. So we'll do a whole Halloween day, let's say, or we'll do a big wasile down in the orchard. Um, and that you know, the older groups are more focused then on like what are you interested in? Photography? Okay, cool. Let's do some wildlife photography, let's make a project on it, and we'll get a photographer in to come and work with them, that sort of thing. Amazing, it's amazing, but it all costs money. Yes, um, and that's why we we then went down the route of setting up a CIC because there's there is plenty of money out there, um, but accessing it is the challenge. Always because everybody who is running these groups, these placements, you know, the community days, all of that stuff, it costs money, you know, you've got to pay people for their time because they're trained and they are they should be valued. Um, and so from that point of view, you know, if we want to offer something that's affordable andor free, we need to be able to pay for those staff. So that's you know, that's why we've set up the CIC. So we are looking to access funding from big organizations, but also any, you know, any private donations, anything, we'll we'll take anything. Yeah, so yeah, just saying anyone that's listening. Um, because I just think we we have got to invest in this generation, they're facing challenges that we never dreamed anyone would have to face. Like, you know, I've got a 17-year-old daughter. If you say the the letters A and I around her, she gets quite cross because as far as she's concerned, that's threatening her future. You know, she wants to do art, and even you know, we never thought that that was gonna, we thought it might be tech jobs, that kind of thing, service industry. But now, you know, people who work in that industry, the creative industry, are having their jobs threatened by AI, you know. So who ever thought that was gonna happen? Certainly not me, maybe I'm slightly you know ignorant in that respect, but it's it's quite frightening if you're a teenager being faced with going to university and getting saddled with debt, and then there's no jobs when you come out because AI is taking them all. So these are just uh yeah, it just blows my mind all the stuff that they've got to deal with. It seems incredibly unfair.
SPEAKER_01Um plus losing their sense of of community and connection because they're so tied into their screens. Yeah. Um, so yeah, what you're doing to bring people in and get them outside, give them a different focus and sense of purpose. I think that's amazing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And not to mention the specter of climate change.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, exactly. I mean something.
SPEAKER_02By going outside.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so the CIC, um, how can people get involved in helping you with that?
SPEAKER_02Uh so we do have a a page on the website, so it's ballisfarm.co.uk slash cic. There is a donation button on there, which would be great if anyone wants to press that. Um, or email me, um tamzin at ballisfarm.co.uk, if you want to find out any more information. We have got a quite a big fundraiser in August though, which is quite exciting. Okay, what's that? Um, so it's called Lucky Sevens. Some people may have heard of that already. It's uh it's a monthly event that happens at Palmer Street where anyone can show up and play their favourite seven-inch records. So everyone gets to be a DJ, basically.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um, and we're gonna be running that, but here at the farm from nine in the morning until nine at night. So the idea is you can book your slot online, you pay for it because the money's going to a wonderful cause. Um, but we'll also have a bar, the pool will be open, sauna will be open, so you can book a slot there too, and there'll be pizza, we've got uh chick-chat falafel are gonna come up as well, so you can have some lunch and just have a lovely day at the farm. Sounds like a great day out. Yeah, what date is that happening? That is the bank holiday weekend in August on the Sunday, so it's the 30th of August.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and that's up on available on the website now for booking. So, and that slots are already selling as well. So the prime time slots you want to get in there quick.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01And what else? Uh so Vallis Farm, I've also noticed you've got a number of people up here. Her renting space, and um there's somebody doing so. I met a lady the other day at Free Market who is making amazing skincare products.
SPEAKER_02Oh, Hebe, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh no, her name was Rose. Yeah, Rose.
SPEAKER_02Her business name is Hebe. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. So we have I'm trying to remember how many studios we've got. I think we've got seven, possibly eight spaces that are rented out to artisans. That was Max, Max, who owns the farm, that was his thing. He really, really wanted people up here making stuff. And as long as it's in line with our ethics, then then everyone's welcome. Those spaces are like we have a waiting list of people. I can imagine. Uh, yeah. So Rose is actually, she moved in relatively recently. She makes, yeah, really good skincare products, all sort of using natural essential oils. Um, Emma, who you met in the cafe.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02She's a jeweller.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um, we have Vandeker who does watercolour paints. We've got Liz, who's a leather worker, she makes the most incredible like batch. Oh, she's just brilliant, and she does do workshops as well. She'll be she's down at the independent. Um, we've got Kim, Somerset Ceramics, who makes the most incredible pottery, but also is a fantastic teacher, so she does regular classes, and we've got Paul who's a sculptor, and then in the caravan over there, we've got um our herbalists. Fantastic! So they've made that that scruffy-looking caravan into a really beautiful apothecary, and they do consultations in there and all sorts.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I had no idea that all of this was going on practically on my doorstep. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they do actually the herbalists do some really good products that we sell in the shop here as well.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um, like the sh Jude makes this really incredible like mushroom powder, so there's lots of different mushrooms in there. Okay. Which, if anyone's a similar age to me, or even ADHD, which I think I am both of those things. Um, this stuff, so you just put it in in your soups, in your casseroles, in your biscuits, the whole thing. I mean, I I'm I'm reverse poisoning my family with this stuff. They don't even know. I just put it in all our in all our meals, and yeah.
SPEAKER_01Brilliant. Okay. I think that's we've got loads apart. What we didn't say was you need to tell me your name.
SPEAKER_02So, yeah, I'm Tams in Westbrook and I am head of land and learning of Alice Farm.
SPEAKER_01Great, thank you very much.