I’ve always loved to grow plants and have pottered in the garden for most of my life, with varying degrees of success, ranging from delight to despair!
Due to my own career and, when our children were young, the career of my husband, I have moved my home many times. On the last count, I have lived in 11 homes and that excludes anything rented in between and that of my parents. It really is too many to establish any sense of long-term grounding. However, I found that grounding in the garden and I learned that the bricks and mortar of a home are nothing compared to the soil we live upon. For me, to know and sense the soil is to know who I am as the soil is dynamic and from it comes life and the future. This is why it is very important to take care of the natural world that surrounds us, all of which is supported by the soil which we need to take care of.
In each home I’ve made a contribution to the garden and have always left a little piece of my heart, as I’m sure many people do. In some homes I have been a caretaker of the garden, nurturing existing plants, but in some I have made significant changes too.
The most change I made and energy that I put into a garden was my first real home in Holland; the home where I enjoyed two pregnancies and where my children were born. This was a time of great contentment, love, peace and security and this I ploughed back into the garden. I recall gardening whilst heavily pregnant, pushing my babies around in a pram and carrying them in a sling across my tummy whilst they were sleeping so they could stay close to me whilst I planted or weeded flower beds. This was a very special time of my life and I hope subconsciously, it was also special for my children. I visited this home last year after not seeing it for many years and the lovely new owners gave me the gift of showing me around their beautiful garden and home. To see the now mature fruit orchard, trees and gardens that I planted was a very emotional experience with all of the memories that it brought!
But it is not only plants that can grow, dreams can also be seeded and nurtured, you just have to sow a little piece of yourself positively and nurture it. When we moved back to the UK in 2008, a day I remember very well as it was my 44th birthday, we were made custodians of a 44 Acre smallholding on Dartmoor. I say custodians as the land on Dartmoor is wild and belongs to nobody but itself and this we also felt about the house as we knew it had been there since at least 1086, when it was mentioned in the Doomsday Book. We raised sheep on this smallholding, no small feat on wild and rugged Dartmoor but this is a story all by itself that one day I may share!
Whilst waiting to move into our smallholding, we lived on a campsite located on a farm where the idea of creating wool duvets first took root. During our summer there, I had the pleasure of meeting Joy, a talented artist. Joy graciously agreed to create some drawings for me to use as a logo, which eventually became the iconic sheep head logo that continues to represent our wool bedding products today. Every time I see our wool logo, I’m reminded of those meaningful beginnings and of the power of nurturing an idea.
Our vision was to find ways to live authentically and sustainably, inviting others to share in this connection to nature. We raised sheep on this rugged land and revived a neglected vegetable garden, coaxing life back into the soil with the help of three enthusiastic pigs.
Our efforts expanded beyond our immediate surroundings. We opened our barn to visitors, offering products crafted from our sheep’s wool, Dick’s bees’ honey, and handcrafted soaps and balms. School groups came to camp and learn traditional crafts like wool felting.
Ultimately, just like gardening, our journey with wool duvets required dedication and nurturing. Unexpectedly, the idea of making wool duvets grew rapidly, changing the course of our lives. A friend spotted an advertisement by Channel 4 seeking individuals like us—non-farmers transitioning into farming—and recommended us. Despite having around 200 sheep (including lambs), we didn’t consider ourselves farmers due to the small scale of our operation. However, after some convincing by a delightful Channel 4 representative, we agreed to be filmed for nine months for an episode of a series titled “My Dream Farm” with Monty Don, for the symbolic sum of £1.00. Our motivation was to spread positivity through television, although a payment was contractually necessary.
During filming, Monty Don took a keen interest in our idea of creating British wool duvets and encouraged us to focus on this aspect.
Just as in gardening, nurturing our wool duvet idea required hard work and dedication, eventually leading to the growth of what is now Devon Duvets—a fully realised manifestation of our initial seed of an idea.