Summer is officially over – and if you are a stay-at-home mum (either worried about or looking forward to) your kids going back to school, this month’s article is for you! I have been thinking about some activities mums can do while their kids are in school. Being a stay-at-home mum can be overwhelming. When your children finally head off to school, either for the first time or after a long summer holiday, you might feel at a loose end. But now is your opportunity for some much-needed “ME” time! Do you find regular exercise hard to fit in? It might be time to check out your local gym! Book into a regaulr class, and make new friends while you’re at it. If a hard work-out isn’t for you, look out for a yoga or Tai Chi class. These are more gentle forms of exercise to help you relax and get fit. Have you been missing time with friends that wasn’t centred around the kids? I bet your freinds have too. Why not set up a weekly coffee date in a local cafe with freinds or neighbours. If you’re stuck for who to meet, try the MumsMeetUp site to connect with local mums. If you have a toddler still at home, maybe with a busy schedule of morning jobs, take a break during nap time to catch up on a box set or a film. Yes it is important to get some jobs done but you also need to find some time for yourself! Learning a new skill or taking up a hobby is agreat idea – there’s masses of information on YouTube for free. Lots of people learn new skills that way. Formal learning (online or in-person) is another great option. You can find details of adult learning courses on the Adult Community Education website SkillsandLearning here, with a huge range of subjectes from maths and creative writing to counselling and barbering. Online classes can be done at your own pace, and are easy to fit in when you have the time. In-person classes are a great way to meet people with the same interests as you. Check your local library – Gillingham has a very active Craft Club that meets every Friday, and most local libraries have similar groups.
Employ My Ability offers vocational training for students with learning disabilities and special educational needs and disabilities. One of their students, Maddie Walters, spent her work experinece with us, and now writes a regular column – Ed
Dorset farmer and BV Magazine columnist George Hosford gives to show visitors an insight into modern farming with his July farm diary
After three years, George has successfully established herbal plants into an aged and worn-out permanent pasture – it’s had very little grazing while it has slowly rooted.
Grasshopper: long word – short antennae Cricket: short word – long antennae Katydid: odd word, also known as a bush cricket, definitely confusing the issue
It’s a Meadow Grasshopper on the thumb and a long winged meadow Katydid in the image below – and they’re on the hand of the teacher who brought a class from Durweston to the farm at the beginning of July. That’s what the ‘Picture Insect’ app tells me at least – and yes, a proper student of wildlife would cross-check in a book, but life is too short to be buried in reference books. Apps like this one, the ‘Merlin bird song app’, and ‘Picture This’ for plants and trees, have revolutionised my life … and increased my screen time and shortened my phone battery life alarmingly! It was a lovely sunny day for this particular school visit. We had great fun looking at crops approaching harvest and wild flowers on chalk downland, and spent ages catching (mostly) grasshoppers plus quite a few other mini beasts. A sunny day in July is perfect for crawling about on hands and knees trying to catch insects for identification, and for learning new plants. After that it was time to pull on the rubber gloves and find a suitable cowpat for excavation. We needed one not too old, not too fresh … as Goldilocks said, it needs to be just right. Covered in holes on the surface, firm enough to be a little crusty, but still soft enough inside to be populated with a variety of insect life, hopefully including some dung beetles. If we don’t dose our animals with wormers then there will be a better chance of dung beetle presence – they are an indicator of, and contributor towards, soil health, carrying dung deep into the soil with their burrowing activity. On this occasion we found a couple of beetles who rapidly tried to burrow away from daylight, numerous small unidentifiable flies and one mealworm from another beetle species. At least a bird not worried about a dirty beak would be very pleased to find it!
It’s always the weather We have been pushing on with harvest when the weather has given us a chance. We nibbled at the Wildfarmed* winter wheat, which has ripened earlier than the other wheats, but it wasn’t quite ready so we moved on to the spring barley, which is equally weather-sensitive. Once milling wheat or malting barley is properly ripe, it is important to gather it swiftly, before the weather breaks and essential quality levels deteriorate. We also try to keep one eye on the straw, so that our long-suffering straw contractor stands a chance of baling the straw before it gets soaked. If it looks as though rain is imminent, it’s a bit unfair to race through a damp crop with the combine leaving line after line of soaking straw. This will only delay our return to the field to sow the next crop, so usually it pays to be patient. The baler running right behind the combine on a sunny day, dust flying, is the best of all. Once the harvest is in, some decent damp weather means the oilseed rape or cover crops – which will be sown as soon as possible afterwards – have a greater chance of swift emergence and growing away while the sun is still high in the sky. Every week’s delay in sowing reduces the sunshine hours available for important early growth before winter. By the end of July we had cut all of the winter barley and the oilseed rape, the early-sown spring barleys, and the Wildfarmed winter wheat – and in all cases the heaps in the shed are sadly rather smaller than we had hoped.
Not quite ready – ‘having a nibble’ at the Wildfarmed wheat
We are still debating why this is; the usual suspect is the weather, and it’s no different this year. A wet and cold winter, late cool spring and a boiling hot June have conspired to depress yield prospects. Once again we have been experimenting with fertiliser and spray inputs. So we have yet to discover what the main wheat crop has in store.
Grow Your Own for next year We have sown a selection of crops in one field, in order to save the seed and use it to sow our over-wintering cover crops. This will be the third year we have done so and it is amazing how well the combine copes with such variation (admittedly it is possibly something to do with the operator?!). The seeds are very different from our other crops, and the straw is variable in texture and quantity, yet we have ended up with usable samples. Some of this year’s crops won’t be cut until after their seeds would need to have been sown, so we will dry and store those until next year. The turnips on the far left of the image have already been cut and cleaned with our ancient Rutherford cleaner, and are ready to sow again soon.
Farming or marketing? This summer we became the proud parents of another graduate in the family. In the ceremony lists of graduates I found it a little odd that there were twice as many students of consumer behaviour and marketing than there were of agriculture. I can’t help feeling that this could reflect the reducing numbers of people occupied in grass-roots food production across the world.
Technological advances and the relentless drive to reduce the cost of food inevitably drives people out of the industry, thus making it ever more dependent on chemicals and fertilisers applied in textbook fashion across vast areas which cannot possibly be managed in a way that can produce food while simultaneously preserving (let alone improving) soil health and protecting environmental diversity. In order to compete in a cut-throat world driven by the retailers and cost-conscious consumers, farming has become hugely competitive. Arable farmers have long been paying silly money for rented or contracted land, and to cover it all they need hugely expensive machines. Once committed to this capital expenditure, along with often unsustainable rent levels, the last thing they can risk is losing yield. So every avenue is followed to optimise production. This is very expensive – in many cases, farmers are over-applying inputs because they can’t risk what they see as failure. In our own case, we have achieved 11 tons per ha of wheat in four out of the last ten years. That for us is amazing, but we would be fools to think we can do that every year – the rainfall makes sure of that. Rainfall and sunshine distribution will always have more influence than fertiliser and chemicals. Should we stick to the high input policy of those good years – thereby implying that in the other six years we over-applied fert and chem? Or should we settle for a bit less yield in the best years, instead matching our chemical input levels to the average output we might expect? Paying close attention to the financial margins of different levels of input and output, while weathering the vagaries of international markets for grain and gas (fertiliser), is of course essential bedtime reading.
Chemical cons Along the way we are learning about the damage that chemical fertiliser does to the soil. We know now that it destroys organic matter and soil health. And are the fungicides we use to keep disease at bay on the plants above ground actually destroying the mycorrhizal fungi within the soil that are so important for healthy plant/soil interaction? If we are to be serious about global temperature and the human effect on the planet’s ecosystems, we really do need to address these issues.
George Hosford farms near Blandford, and writes a regular monthly farm diary on his blog View From The Hill
Wildfarmed works with farmers, believing that affordable, nutritious food must be grown in ways that mimic natural systems, restoring soil and with far fewer inputs.
The recent decision by Dorset Council to approve the development of a solar farm, close to where I live in the Blackmore Vale, prompted an exchange of views on social media after someone posted an article from the Daily Mail which was headlined ‘Fury as huge solar farm given the go-ahead in Hardy Country’. Not so long ago all the comments would have been strongly against the development, but this time there were a number of comments in favour. A reflection perhaps of an increasing awareness of the urgency of the situation? It’s certainly getting harder to deny that the climate is changing, as evidenced by extreme weather-related events this year, including here in the UK and in Europe. Weather has always fluctuated of course, but the increasing trend to severe events is obvious. Some commentators were also clearly aware of the way the government has failed us so badly in the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels. The failure to develop the necessary infrastructure in renewable energy was also considered to be reflected in the ever-growing problems with health, education, sewerage and water etc. To those who call for development to be placed anywhere but in our own back yard, I would point out that we are all in the same boat. We all have to play our part if we are to avoid sinking together. I doubt anyone thinks solar farms are visually attractive – or wind turbines for that matter. I certainly don’t. I would much rather we didn’t have to have them. But the fact of the matter is that humanity has boxed itself into a corner. Or rather, we’ve been boxed into a corner by corporations greedily pursuing profit before people and planet, and by governments failing to regulate those corporations to prevent the damage they cause. We now have to throw everything we can at the problem of global warming, in order to have any chance of stopping it getting out of hand. Co-operation needs to extend internationally of course; thankfully there are signs that’s happening as catastrophe knocks on everyone’s doors. Ken Huggins North Dorset Green Party
August has served up a strong reminder of the size and diversity of the North Dorset constituency – even after the Boundary Commission has wrought its most recent changes (the latest proposals are on their website now). I say this because August has seen the Liberal Democrat team mount a presence at both the Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show and the Verwood Rustic Fayre. The two events are a long way apart in geographical terms and they also feel quite different: one is deeply rural and agricultural while the other has an air of New Forest edge-of-metropolis.
What is interesting is that with exactly the same stand and precisely the same approach – asking some pertinent questions and listening hard – we had a very similar response. There is that age-old issue that when you have lost your car keys at night you only look for them under the lamppost where there is light. We did not do that. We talked to people long and hard right across the spectrum of age, gender and the rest of the demographic niceties. We stood our ground against the diehards, meeting them with a rueful grin or two but mostly we had good amicable and engaged discussions. Over two days at the G & S and through the day in Verwood, we had something approaching 200 conversations – about one every five minutes. There were some big ticket issues from these conversations: Why doesn’t anything work properly; the self-seeking nature of politics; how out of touch our politicians are; why can’t we find a decent solution to the asylum seeker crisis; how could we have let Brexit end up like this; why can’t we come together as a nation to stop us going downhill; why do governments do things mostly for the minority that put them there; there must be a better way of doing all this. You get the picture? Quite a lot of despair and even more disdain for the political classes. Lessons for all. I am delighted, therefore, to watch Sarah Dyke, our new local MP for Somerton & Frome embark on a constituency wide tour as the first thing she does. To see, hear and seek to understand about all of her constituency. My goodness me, she is a force. Still, on the lighter side, we asked attendees at both shows whether the current lot deserve another five years. The best answer we got was from the Daleks. I leave you to imagine the one-word answer… Mike Chapman Blackmore Vale LibDem
These are such a decadent treat – even better because they are made with a handful of simple ingredients. I love my stand mixer as much as any other baker does, but these really work well with a simple wooden spoon and some elbow grease. Be prepared to beat the mixture really well – if your arm isn’t aching by the end, then you haven’t beaten it well enough! This recipe is for the traditional cream and chocolate version but you can fill eclairs with any combination of ingredients – toffee sauce, Nutella, fruit, coffee cream … the list goes on and on! Just try and keep the centre to some kind of soft cream and the top to something more set in nature, otherwise they become very tricky to eat! Heather
Ingredients (makes 10 to 12)
70g plain flour
55g butter
2 eggs (beaten)
120ml water
pinch of salt
300ml whipping cream
200g chocolate
Method
Preheat the oven to gas 6/200ºC. Grease and line a baking tray.
Sift the flour into a bowl and leave to one side.
Melt the water, butter and salt together in a large saucepan until the butter has completely melted; then bring the mixture to a boil.
Once boiling, take the pan off the heat and add the flour. Beat this mixture hard with a wooden spoon until it is well combined (1 to 2 minutes).
Return to the heat and continue beating for another minute.
Tip the mixture into a bowl so that it cools slightly. Slowly add the eggs a bit at a time, beating really well between each addition until the mixture is shiny and paste-like. Eventually it should drop nicely off the end of the spoon.
Put the mixture in a piping bag and pipe onto the tray into strips about 10cm long.
Sprinkle tray with some water and pop in the oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to
gas 3/170ºC and cook for a further 10 minutes.
The shells are done when they have browned and are crispy to the touch – they should have risen nicely too.
Remove from the oven and pierce the shells with a skewer to make a small hole, so that the steam can escape when cooling. This should help them not to collapse as they cool.
Once the shells are cold, they can be stored in an airtight box and will keep for a couple of days in a cool, dry place.
To finish the eclairs, whip the cream until it is stiff and melt the chocolate. If you are using dark chocolate, you can add some cream to the melted chocolate to make a softer ganache which won’t set as hard as melted chocolate might.
You can either slice the eclairs and pipe in the cream (as you would a bread roll to make a sandwich), or pipe the cream into a hole at one end (as you would when filling a doughnut).
Liberally drizzle the chocolate onto the eclairs.
Eclairs are best eaten the day the cream and chocolate are added as the moisture quickly softens the crisp shells.
Heather Brown is a food writer, photographer and stylist. A committee member of The Guild of Food Writers, Heather runs Dorset Foodie Feed, as well as working one-to-one with clients.
Team TB is prepping for the autumn season with some rigorous training (both equine and human!) – and a new home’s needed for Cherry and Sebastian
Toots Bartlett and Cor y Taran competing in July. Image: Luke Perrett Photography
It’s been a quiet month for team TB – lots of training, with fine tuning of each phase as we look forward and plan for the autumn event season. Wellington was our only event in the August diary – sadly a bad case of human tonsillitis for me means we are unable to attend. Instead we have turned our attention to Cornbury House for the International and Young Horse Championship, from 6th to 10th September. We have had to say a sad goodbye to head girl Eve Mitchell this month as she moves back up north with her family. She left a hole in our team, but thankfully it was swiftly filled by Rodger, a Sicilian who has been working for Paul Nicholls in his racing yard for the last seven years. We are already benefitting from his experience and knowledge – he is an incredibly hard worker and brings lots of enthusiasm and motivation to the yard!
Time off With such a quiet month in terms of competing it’s been vital to maintain the horses’ fitness ahead of their autumn schedule. They follow a strict fitness program, galloping for three lots of intervals every four days, as well as some serious hill road inclines once a week, which we do at a slow trot. This helps to strengthen the back end of the horses, making them really engage their muscles and building their top line as well as improving their cardiovascular fitness. We also managed to have our first family holiday for many years, which was so relaxing. Mallorca was warm and filled with lovely food and wine. However, this has meant I have had to increase my own fitness regime ahead of our next Internationals! I’m working out at least six days a week after work, splitting between long slow runs, short and fast 5km runs and sessions in the gym working on core, glutes and upper body strength. In eventing, the rider’s fitness is just as important as the horse’s – it’s not just them strengthening the back end! Hopefully all the training will pay off at Cornbury House – both Freestyle R and Cor Y Taran take on the CCI3*s.
Can you give Cherry and Sebastian a home?
Cherry and Sebastian We also have two gorgeous miniature Shetland Ponies back to re-home. Three years ago we rescued 11 of them, finding wonderful homes for nine and keeping Jack Jack and Bilbo as turn-out companions for the eventers. We find them hugely beneficial on the yard – and how could you not love them?! Cherry and Sebastian, through absolutely no fault of their own, are now looking for a new knowledgeable home. If you think you have the time and the experience, please do get in touch 07478 339300. I have been sponsored by professional photographer – Luke Perrett – I look forward to sharing his photography across the season, and we hope to join up with Blackfort Equestrian, my clothing sponsor, too. Exciting times! tootsbartletteventing.com
Sow hardy annuals like cornflowers and calendula now for robust, early blooms, says farmer Charlotte Tombs – but protect them from winter frost
Amazing Grey poppy All images: Charlotte Tombs
If you sow hardy annuals such as cornflowers (centaurea), Bishop’s flower (Queen Anne’s lace or ammi majus) or pot marigold (calendula) from mid August to early September the plants will be big enough to plant out in mid to late October. The soil will still be warm enough then for the roots to establish themselves – be warned the plants will sit and sulk over the winter months and you will no doubt think ‘what was Charlotte on about’!
Calendula with a small guest
Stick with me – as soon as the temperatures start to improve those sulky little plants will rocket into life and you will have bigger, stronger, earlier-flowering plants. Be aware that if we have some of those hideous cold snaps like we did in December last year, these babies will need a little bit of frost protection. I lost a few shrubs myself last winter as we’d had such a mild autumn then bang; they got frost burned and never came back. Actually I’ve yet to meet a gardener who didn’t lose something over last winter, climate change is visibly happening around us. For this reason I will be growing more perennials from seed this year – they seem to be able to cope better with our changing climate.
Bishop’s flower – also known as Ammi majus or Queen Anne’s lace
Then when October comes you can sow your autumn sweet peas. Don’t be tempted now – it’s still too warm and they will get over-excited and try and flower and set seedOther annuals you may want to try are honeywort (cerinthe) and love-in-a-mist (nigella). Poppies (papaver) are also wonderful – look out for one called Amazing Grey, it’s incredible, it looks like crushed silk to tissue paper and as the name hints it comes in an array of grey (not quite 50 shades though!!). Others to try are florist’s dill (anethum graveolens) and if you’re keen on wild carrot (daucus), look out for Purple Kisses. You can see it far more clearly on the white variety but the red spot in the middle of the flower is allegedly the blood from where Queen Anne pricked her finger while making lace.
Charlotte’s cornflowers in some rare 2023 sunshine
Also don’t dismiss the lovely little snapdragons (antirrhinum) and give them a go. I do a second sowing of these in February. Not all of these can be planted out in the autumn unless you are in a very sheltered spot, but all of them can be overwintered in a cold green house. If you are interested in getting ahead with your annual flowers, I found the book Cool Flowers by Lisa Mason Ziegler invaluable. As always, please do feel free to ask me any questions and I will try my best to help!
First he introduced the Wool Village, and now Matt Cradock, chairman of the Sheep Section, has launched the first G&S Sheep Shearing competition
Matt Cradock is passionate about educating show visitors about sheep, shearing and wool
This is Matt’s seventh year in charge of the sheep section at the G&S and changes keep coming. After two successful years of shearing demonstrations, he had a new idea – a shearing competition. It has never been done before at the G&S Show, and Matt’s keen to share how exciting it will be to watch. There will be seven contest categories in all. On the Wednesday, it will be the junior, blade and veterans (over 50s). And on Thursday, the intermediate, senior, open – and a fancy dress category too! There could be entrants on the day, so it’s hard to gauge how many will take part. ‘I reckon 40 shearers across all classes would be optimum,’ Matt says. ‘We’re also trying to keep the education going with a lot of demonstrations.’ The desire to educate is what inspires Matt. ‘It is important for the public to see – it’s the audience I want because it’s a big part of the education side of it. People understand that sheep get sheared, but they don’t really know what’s involved. They have to see it for themselves. There are always masses of questions and I love that!’ The Wool Village, which made a successful debut last year, is also returning for 2023, and in a bigger space. The Village aims to tell the background story of sheep, with spinners explaining how the wool is turned into yarn, as well as talks and exhibits. There are fleece classes, where those exhibiting their stock bring along fleeces for quality judging. And of course there is also the showing of sheep, with competition classes and prizes for all the pedigree breeds. Having a rosette on your animal is very good for business. Rumour has it that a jumper was recently made for Matt from his own sheep’s wool – it may make an appearance at the Show !
Matt with Brock – so called because he looked like a badger as a puppy!
From two to 3,000 The weather has apparently been kind to shepherds this year. ‘Six weeks of hot, dry weather means you don’t have to shear wet sheep!’ Matt began shearing in late March, then moved straight into lambing from early April through to mid-May, with shearing ending by the end of July. Matt has 1,500 of his own sheep – a mix of breeds including Charollais, Border Leicester and Poll Dorsets. They are spread over 300 acres of rented land across North Dorset. He will shear 3,000 sheep this year, including his own, working with all sizes from a two-sheep ‘flock’ to one in the Sparkford area with 1,100 sheep. Poll Dorsets are notoriously tricky to shear. ‘One gave me a black eye this summer with a swift kick. I didn’t think it was that bad but when I wiped my face, there was blood. My shearing customer was laughing but hadn’t told me about the blood because it was the first one of the day and she thought I might have just left!’ Matt is well qualified to chair the Sheep Section at the show and is clearly highly regarded in the area. The Sparkford landowner had just lost their shepherd when they called Matt in to shear. They offered him a full-time job – and the gap in pay expectation was small enough to make him seriously consider selling his own flock of 1,500. But he remains, for now, his own boss.
Matt will be shearing 3,000 sheep this year
More work than ever Matt lives in Stour Row and had 30 customers for shearing this year, from the Dorset coast to the Somerset borders. He also does lot of shepherding. ‘I’m getting more work because there are not enough people doing it – there aren’t enough people going into farming itself. A couple of local shepherds have given up their round. People are pulling out of farming so plots of land do come up now. Farming never gets easier and there is a shortage of farm workers too.’ His dad does all the machinery maintenance ‘for little reward,’ jokes Matt. His dad also drives and delivers dairy products for Crook & Churn. The Dorset Dairy Co has recently announced that it will sell its dairy herd and milk refill business and concentrate on dairy products such as yoghurts, kefir, cream and butter. Matt Cradock says: ‘It tells you the way it’s going. In the last 18 months the shortages and losses you make if you sell at the wrong time of the week can mean you don’t have a gross margin left.’ Last year he sold 40 tonnes of wool to the Wool Board at 35p a kilo – netting around £1,500. ‘The wool is just a bit of a bonus, so when I come to shear my own sheep, it’s all paid for.’
The shearing competitions begin at 10am and run throughout both days in the Wool Village.
Driving community connections: how Paul Futcher’s fish and chip van has become a weekly staple in local villages. Rachael Rowe reports
Paul Futcher (left) has run the Pilgrim Fryer for 15 years
Around 5.30pm on a certain night, the unmistakable aroma of fish and chips fills the air in villages north of Blandford Forum, enticing people out for their weekly treat. The man responsible is Paul Futcher, owner of the Pilgrim Fryer fish and chip van. ‘It all started about 15 years ago. I was working for Scottish and Southern Electric, driving trucks – and never a thought for working in the fish and chip industry! The previous owner of the fish and chip van found God and decided to train to be a vicar. I got home from work one day and my (now ex) wife said: “Do you want to buy a fish and chip van?” It went from there – needless to say I ended up buying the van! ‘We’ve always worked north of Blandford Forum and the Stour Valley. There were four original stops: Child Okeford, Shillingstone, Iwerne Minster and Stourpaine. We’ve recently added Okeford Fitzpaine. ‘With a shop, you are stuck in one place. The beauty of a van is that it fits with our ethos of being able to provide something to communities that are not big enough to have a fish and chip shop of their own. There has been a fish and chip van outside the Bakers Arms in Child Okeford every Thursday since 1998. The whole village knows that Thursdays is fish and chips night! We visit each village and it fills a lovely gap in the market. Some older people don’t have transport to get to a fish and chips shop.’ You can’t help but hear that the staff on the Pilgrim Fryer call some older residents by name. ‘We know a lot of the regular customers, especially the elderly.
We know their orders and what time they are coming to collect them. When people place an order they have around 20 minutes to wait – it’s a nice opportunity to catch up with others who are waiting, usually from their own community. A lot of the elderly don’t see many other people. We chat to them and I know it means a lot that they have this in the village. We become part of the community.’ What is the most popular choice? ‘Cod and chips. It is what we focus on and without a shadow of a doubt it’s what people order most of. It’s very traditional. There is a tendency for people down south to go for cod while haddock is more popular up north. You can spot a northerner who’s moved south, they still prefer haddock,’ says Paul.
Shop local ‘We use local suppliers where we can. There are actually only two main fish and chip suppliers in this country – all the local shops use the same supplier. We use Fryers Pride, as it has a depot in Poole. The industry is really mechanised with fish caught in the Arctic on huge trawler boats. We used to get fish from the North Sea but it has moved because of the fishing quotas. Once the fish is caught, it is blast-frozen really fast and we get the fish in packs which we portion. Because the fish has been frozen so quickly, the quality is really good, it is actually better than fresh, even though it has been stored on a trawler for three days. We get our potatoes from Alan Frout at Verwood.’ The idyllic roaming chip van life isn’t without its struggles, however. ‘It’s a challenge to get to each site and provide a consistent product day in and day out. With a van, things do go wrong – I always have a toolbox with me. Once we turned up in Child Okeford in six inches of snow! But we felt a responsibility to be there for our customers. Another issue is working on propane; it’s not like a physical shop with mains gas and electric. It’s more challenging to produce consistency. And then there are the problems with no phone signal for taking payments, of course … ‘But I’m proud of our connection with the local people. I never thought I would run a fish and chip van, but to be able to make a difference in people’s lives is very rewarding. We’ve become a real part of the community.’
