We met Keith recently in the carpark of a National Trust property just on the edge of Dartmoor National Park in Devon.
He’s a first generation sheep farmer and shearer, and works on his son’s farm, also on Dartmoor, where they practice regenerative farming and use the sheepskin and wool to make their products by hand all on the same farm.
He also maintains the hedgerows around some of the National Trust land, and grows his own Christmas trees to sell this time of year. We got talking about Wild & Sea and he proposed a trade.
He gave me one of his trees and I came back a week later to give him his Wild & Sea goodies.
He said he’ll give the Noël Christmas Candle to his wife as she loves them. The Natural Shampoo bar will be for his son and his Collie up at the farm. He’ll keep the Organic Shampoo for his own dog as “he needs a good bath soon too”.
He also gave me some Forthglade treats for Tallow that day too which he loved.
He turned the packet over and explained that he liked these treats not only because they’re made in Devon too, but because they’ve partnered with the National Trust to launch the Dogs Welcome project.
This is an initiative which aims to improve access for dogs across the wonderful places the Trust care for. From introducing more dog friendly trails, dog waste bins, wash down areas and drinking stations, to giving each Trust site a paw print rating.
There isn’t really a point or moral to this story, except maybe buy less, buy local or handmade this Christmas, and support your favourite small businesses, whoever that may be.
