Tea on the lawn and 3 passionate women supporting each other in their rural businesses.
Lyn Abraham and Jackie Howard immediately hit it off when they met at a W.I.R.E. networking event. They already had so much in common - a love of vintage design, a dusty shed to work in and constant interruptions from the speckled hens that roamed their gardens. The WIRE event that day was to open up new avenues to develop marketing initiatives, and Lyn and Jackie agreed to meet up again to discuss all their ideas and decide how to put them into practice. Designer Lyn knew exactly who would make a good foil for their wild ideas and brought Jackie to meet Sheila Haswell at Freedom Flowers. Jackie couldn’t believe she had met someone even more blunt than herself, and from then on, the threesome batted about ideas in daily emails as they developed their business ideas.
Jackie had always had a love of vintage china, and has a huge shed, loft and store cupboards full of charming finds from car boot sales, charity shops and distant relatives. Jackie already had a thriving rural business running the Brackendale Spa at Carsington in the Peak District, so starting another business venture remained on the back burner for some time. After teaming up with Lyn and Sheila, Jackie knew she had to run with the china idea to bring a bit of beauty into everyone’s lives. Lyn introduced Jackie to Rebecca and Ruth at a WIRE meeting as great people to work on the design of her publicity material. Jackie sorted out the vast boxes of china into beautiful sets that would charm any vintage tea table. With help from Sheila to create a new web site, Jackie soon found a demand for her special teapots, cups and plates at local weddings, heritage events and country house parties.
Sheila meanwhile was digging for victory! Already running a very successful nationwide party business, www.fizzpotzz.co.uk, Sheila wanted to spend more time with her true love, flowers. With 2 acres of land, and an addictive gardening habit, Sheila was encouraged by Lyn and Jackie to look into growing flowers for the cut flower market. There was a bit of trial and error, (particularly realising that hardy annuals are definitely not hardy in a frost pocket 1000 feet up in the Peak District!!). Jackie offered plenty of muck from her obliging pony “Lydia”, and Lyn’s husband brought handyman Kevin along to fence off part of the land and build raised beds to grow a huge range of cultivated and native English wildflowers. Jackie helped Sheila find some Tamworth pigs to clear a patch of land ready for sowing the wildflower area and the 3 families are enjoying the sausages at their summer barbeques!
Lyn’s “second business” is an offshoot of her successful party gift business. Lyn first set up www.squeakgiftandparty.co.uk after Sheila encouraged her to branch out from hosting fizzpotzz jewellery making parties. Lyn wanted to explore cookery and home baking for children in an easy to pick up party formula, and she has found a ready market and happy customers. Lyn teamed up with www.notonthehighstreet.com in the early stages of her development and found many more customers at local craft fairs. Jackie and Sheila encouraged Lyn to pursue her design skills to produce some original pieces and admired each trial piece as it came out of the kiln. Lyn now produces some beautiful hand made brooches, porcelain favours, candle holders and buttons which really fulfil her creative urges. A selection that can be found for sale at Brackendale Spa!
To celebrate their success and showcase their products, the three ladies are hosting a joint open day in Sheila’s flower field in Fenny Bentley near Ashbourne on Friday 16th July. As well as some beautiful summer flowers, they will be showcasing Lyn’s beautiful design pieces and laying a table for tea with Jackie’s china. Tea and cakes will be served all day too, in aid of local charities
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