Mathilda Allison started her social media accounts as a lockdown project and it’s just snowballed from there.

Based in The Angus Glens, Mathilda posts about her day-to-day life with her partner, Teifion, and her 7 month old daughter, Mabel.

She’s keen to share the realities of their day-to-day life and she’s about to take that one step further with the launch of her new podcast, Tilly Talks.

Her podcast is going to follow the young family as they build their business and their family life, at the same time as raising and training 19 dogs, it’s a busy life and Mathilda has aptly sub-titled the podcast - ‘Country Life and everything in between! The realities of rural living and family life!’

Join us as we chat about Mathilda’s journey on social media and her thoughts on managing being in the public eye. We also talk about the constant juggle of being a Mum, a partner and a businesswoman - and lastly of course we ask Tilly about the one thing she wouldn’t be without and what one piece of advice she would hand on to all of you.

We hope you enjoy our chat - please do like and share and help us build our Community.

You can find Tilly on Instagram here on TikTok here and her Tilly Talks Podcast will be launching very shortly.

Podcast Timeline :

0.00 Introductions

3.21 Tilly talks about her life in Scotland and her dogs

9.05 Balancing work, family and parenthood

17.29 Authenticity and social media

27.04 Embracing opportunities

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Evie Fox-Read is a lady on a mission to grow her interior fragrance brand and have fun doing it.

Fox Cub & Co is an interior fragrance company with every product being produced by Evie and her team in Cheshire.

The business launched with just six candle fragrances in March 2021 and now has a wide range of soy wax candles, diffusers, wax melts and more recently, handwash and hand lotions.

Using the finest ingredients and materials from UK-based businesses to make their products, Evie loves to support other small businesses and is passionate about ensuring that Fox Cub & Co adheres to the highest of standards.

Starting a business is never easy and there’s always lots to learn, much of it on the job and in a bit of a whirlwind!

Emma talks to Evie about where her business idea came from, setting it all up, starting to do shows, working with her husband and just generally coping with the sheer workload involving in doing it all.

You can find Evie’s website here and on instagram here.

You can listen to the podcast on Substack, Apple Podcasts or Spotify Podcasts.

Podcast Timeline:

0.00 Welcome & Introduction

4.12 Wax choices and aesthetics

7.56 Adaptability and resilience

12.47 Big growth & relocation

18.20 Overcoming challenges

25.52 Product improvements

30.31 First Show

33.38 Pricing

39.44 Self-care

47.26 Ends

As always thank you for reading and thank you for listening.

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This episode is an audio post originally written for the Countrywoman’s Guide Substack, where we’re building a community that supports rural and business women through the sharing of stories and wisdom, reminding us all that we’re not alone in our endeavours.

In it, our Founder, Emma, talks about how the lack of a jar of pickled walnuts came to remind her how much quiet support there is around her.

A surprising connection to make maybe, but sometimes the simplest of things provide insights that we overlook in everyday life.

I’m going to head this up with a trigger warning as this episode talks about death and grief. We also have some resources listed at the bottom of the article should you need them.

Shock, horror, grief, disbelief, realisation - there are so many adjectives for all the emotions that hit you following the loss of a loved one, and there’s no guidebook for your own journey through the void. There are no words that can salve the wound and only time, and lots of it, can bring a little respite to your thoughts.

But there’s also often a strong pull to do something to commemorate the person you have lost, and when Jo Williams’ sister, 5* Event Rider Georgie Campbell, tragically lost her life in a Cross Country fall at an event in May this year, Jo and her family, along with Georgie’s husband, Jesse, wanted to do something to honour Georgie’s legacy.

The public outpouring of support after Georgie’s death was almost overwhelming, and so many people wanted to help out in some way. As Jo says in our interview, “We've been offered some really amazing money can't buy experiences.”

So the idea of the Georgie Campbell Foundation was formed with the intent that The Georgie Campbell Foundation 💜🤍 will support young riders in establishing their eventing businesses in loving memory of Georgie.

Their watchwords throughout establishing the Foundation have been, “What would have helped young Georgie with her career?”

The introduction of good business, horse welfare and safety skills early in a young eventer’s journey will help them to navigate some of the things that crop up as they go through their career - and it’s this gap that the Georgie Campbell Foundation is aiming to fill.

They will support young event riders with establishing and running their eventing businesses, by providing bursary support and mentoring on areas including financial management, and attracting and retaining staff, owners, and sponsors.

Fund-raising has already started, with the Foundation’s first Ball under their belt and two exciting jewellery collaborations with Hiho Silver and Coco & Jane Loves

I found talking to Jo incredibly moving, as well as really inspiring, she’s an amazing lady who is determined (alongside Georgie’s family and friends) to ensure that her sister’s legacy will continue long into the future and be a real force for good.

We’re wishing them all the very best with their endeavour.

Podcast Timeline

0.00 Intro & Welcome

3.00 Honouring Georgie’s legacy

8.29 Establishing the Foundation

17.46 Fund-raising events

21.40 Georgie’s Twig story

25.04 Collaborating with Hiho Silver & Coco Jane Loves

27.42 Establishing a Charitable Foundation

31.31 Memories of London Horseshow (Formerly Olympia)

36.04 Memories

41.28 Close

Jo’s instagram is here

You can find the Georgie Campbell Foundation here

Resources:

Rural Support - Bereavement and Loss

Mind - Signposting support and self-care for bereavement

Marie Curie - Signposting bereavement support

Grace Alexander is a lady who wears many hats; she’s a seed merchant, a writer with a full-time job as a clinical psychologist, as well as being a wife and a dog mum.

Based in Somerset, she has accumulated quite a following for her business, Grace Alexander Flowers and Gather, her online membership community.

We sat and shared tea and conversation around Grace’s kitchen table, with a dog snoring quietly on the settee and two more slumbering upstairs - my favourite style of interviewing!

We delve into her journey of transforming a scrubby field into a flourishing flower and seed business; her primary career as a Clinical Psychologist, the fact that she designs and produces all of her seed packets herself (they are beautiful) and how she works with her membership.

In common, with many busy people, Grace’s schedule is absolutely packed and she has to be organised to fit everything in, so we also talk about her techniques for managing conflicting priorities.

Every time I talk to Grace, I always come away inspired, so I hope you also enjoy and, are similarly inspired, after you’ve listened to our chat.

Podcast timeline

00:00 Introduction to Grace Alexander

00:37 Grace's Journey: From Psychologist to Seed Merchant

03:31 The Birth of Malus Farm and Flower Growing

06:15 The Evolution of Grace's Seed Business

12:34 Balancing Psychology and Entrepreneurship

26:14 The Therapeutic Power of Gardening and Walking

29:18 Final Thoughts and Advice

Thank you so much to Grace for spending time with me.

You can find her in these places:-

Grace’s website

Grace’s instagram feed

Grace’s podcast with Becca from Garden Gate Flowers

Grace and Becca’s podcast instagram

Grace recommended a restaurant - Briar Restaurant in Bruton, Somerset

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Cornish farmer Maria Warne-Elston is creating waves at the age of just 22 years old. She packs an impressive punch; running a farm with her family, looking after a lively 2 year old and winning Young Farmer of the Year at the recent South West Farmer Awards.

I could have talked to her for hours but in this podcast we talk all things farming, juggling farm and family life and of course, the impacts of the changes to inheritance and business tax which are about to be implemented, which could have a devastating effect on Maria, her family and many others like them.

Be sure to take a listen, and please do comment, like and share.

You can find Maria at the places below :-

Instagram TikTok YouTube

Click here to watch Maria’s TikTok which explains the issues that the new inheritance tax rules are causing for farmers

Read more about the Southwest Farmers Young Farmer of the Year

Maria is an Ambassador for Farm Safety Foundation

For free, confidential advice RABI

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Sarah Orchard is an award-winning marketing strategist, #1 best-selling author and glamping business owner, who helps fellow hosts confidently move from being invisible online to maximum visibility to increase their direct bookings.

I also have to thank Sarah for being one of the interviews that inspired me to finally launch the podcast. I actually recorded this interview a few months ago as a zoom and at the end, I commented that it might actually be my first podcast. But procrastination and that confidence gremlin telling me I couldn’t be a podcaster crept in…

I then went on to interview Gemma at Gattertop Drinks and again, considered that the interview would make a good podcast, but this time, I finally actually did something about it and stumbled my way through working out how to publish a podcast.

And here we are…

Now as Sarah launches her own podcast (details below), it’s time to put our interview out into the world. I really enjoyed our chat, as a fellow corporate escapee, I totally empathised with feeling that need to make a change - but being full of trepidation about actually doing it!

Sarah talks us through making the jumping from corporate life into becoming a hospitality owner, what brought that about and how she and her husband then went on to launch an award-winning treehouse hospitality business.

Sarah’s marketing background ensured that they achieved some fabulous coverage, including Sandi Toskvig’s

In turn, this inspired her to subsequently set up Get Fully Booked, helping other owners to market and achieve direct bookings for their hospitality business.

Podcast timeline -

0:30 Sarah and her story 

6:12 Coping with hospitality in a pandemic 

9:15 Shifting from corporate to self-employed 

17:05 Sarah’s switch off

20:20 Some final thoughts with Sarah

Find Sarah in these places -

Hudnall’s Hideout Instagram

Get Fully Booked Instagram

Hudnall’s Hideout website

Get Fully Booked Website

Get Fully Booked Podcast

Find Sarah on LinkedIn

Here at Countrywoman’s Guide, we are absolutely over the moon for Holly Thomson who has Volume 2 of In the Country Magazine (ITC) published this month AND her first published novel hitting the shelves!

As with any entrepreneurial venture, it’s been a real journey for Holly and not always an easy one, but as she recounts in our interview, she has learnt a lot along the way.

The relaunch of In the Country brings with it a renewed focus and a determination to bring a magazine to the market that isn’t just a ‘me too’ product.

In addition, Holly has covered subjects that she herself is passionate about; Country pursuits, travelling and Western Style - which always makes for compelling reading.

Supporting charity has always been close to Holly’s heart and £1 from every copy sold is being donated to Free Wild Horses, an American Wild Horse Conservation Charity.

As always, we wanted to give you the Behind The Scenes lowdown, so Emma and Holly caught up for a chat. In true Countrywoman’s Guide style, Holly was at her livery yard and Emma was flitting between meetings, but that’s situation normal for these two, so please do take a listen.

To buy the magazine please pop over to www.inthecountrymagazine.com to and please do share and tag @inthecountrymagg on instagram when you receive your copy!

Welcome to our second podcast interview. A few weeks ago, I interviewed Tamsyn Froom and I’m delighted to be sharing our chat with you now.

Tamsyn has been working on a project for us at our house and having heard that she juggles her own business, the family farm, and building projects alongside being a mum, wife and friend. I wanted to know more about how she makes it all work.

Tamsyn shared some great life hacks with me and I loved her answer to my “what one piece of advice would you share with the CWG Community” question - listen to the end for that one!

You can find Tamsyn at www.tamsynfroomarchitecture.com

(PS : Bear with me as there’s a couple of coughs in the soundtrack. I’ve had this pesky persistent cough that’s going round - we managed to edit out the two big coughing fits, but a couple of small coughs remain!)

0:20 Tamsyn introduces herself 

5:00 Making the own business leap, the drivers and how to manage it

8:00 Noticing the need for change and managing stress 

9:38 The relationship between business and children 

12:50 Mental Wellbeing and the countryside 

15:30 Balancing family life and your business

17:08 Building a business 

21:26 The role of countryside values in business 

25:32 What is next for Tamsyn 

29:50 Some final thoughts from Tamsyn 

Thank you for reading and thank you for listening!

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A few weeks ago, Emma interviewed the very lovely Gemma Standeven from Gattertop Drinks Co.

Gatttertop Drinks was established in by Gemma in 2020 and has most definitely been making waves in the drinks world, taking three Silver medals at the Vodka Masters Awards and also recently becoming a B Corp organisation.

Emma and Gemma chatted about how Gattertop Drinks came about, how Gemma made the jump from her corporate career and all the heart-searching that went with that decision, as well as what it’s like to run a rapidly growing business with big ambitions.

Usually, Emma writes up an article following an interview but you’ve been asking for some longer audio files and Gemma’s story is so interesting that this seemed like a great one to share in full as an audio file for you.

Episode Notes

0.48 Gemma Interview begins 

1:00 Gemma Introduces herself and Gattertop 

2:35 Gattertop and the seasons 

3:55 How Gattertop began 

6:25 The challenges Gemma faced when she began Gattertop

10:40 ‘The Leap!”

14:50 What Gattertop looks like now, growth and the Team

20:00 Gemma’s Ambitions, Gattertop’s Future

23:08 Gemma’s take on business and skills 

25:10 Some final thoughts with Gemma 

Huge thanks to Coate PR for introducing us to Gemma and to Gemma and the Gattertop team for their help with the interview, we hope you enjoy it.

Find Gemma at www.gattertopdrinks.com