The Countrywoman’s Guide to Work, Life & You…

This week I’m joined by Tess Annan, whose mum founded Welligogs 26 years ago, starting with hand-painting wellington boots around the kitchen table. Today Tess is leading the next generation of the business, balancing fresh ideas with the heritage that made customers fall in love with the brand in the first place. We talk about everything from navigating Covid, building an online business, designi...

Lucy Scudamore is one very driven lady and as we heard last time we chatted, her juggling skills have to be supremely efficient to fit everything in. Given that she only started her business last year and had been really busy during the 2025 Game season, Lucy was expecting the Defender Deli to slow down a bit out of season especially as her other equestrian job is busier in the summer. But it seem...

This week’s guest is Katy Theakston from The Owl and the Apothecary . Now, depending on your perspective, the words witch and wild woman in the introduction may either intrigue you or make you slightly nervous. But you needn’t worry, there’s no hex throwing or cliched pointy hats in this conversation - as long as you too love nature and the countryside, you’re going to find common ground as you li...

Jacob Lockwood of Lockwood Smocks was a career soldier in the Coldstream Guards and set to stay there for life. Until he got restless and extremely fed up of consistently getting soaked through on exercise, and he became convinced that he could make something better. That started him on a journey that led to him and his ever-supportive partner Ruth starting Lockwood Smocks, a business that has con...

This week I’m joined by author, illustrator and entrepreneur Hannah Russell. Many people will know Hannah through Little Alf, the miniature Shetland pony who first inspired a series of children’s books that went on to become bestsellers. What began as a blog written during recovery from a serious back injury has grown into a career spanning 20 published books, a thriving creative business and a lo...

I’d seen Lancashire-based footwear brand Lanx pop up on the show circuit that we’re on with Hiho , and their boots have become firm favourites with the menfolk in my family, but I didn’t really know that much about the brand. So when I was thinking of people to interview for the Making Stuff Up channel I was presenting for Do Radio , Marv immediately came to mind. At the end of the 2025 show seaso...

Eleanor Mills is a Founder, Speaker, Bestselling author, Award-winning journalist (ex Editorial Director of the Sunday Times and Editor of the Sunday Times Magazine) - and now the UK’s premier expert on all things midlife. After a 30-year career at the top of British journalism, including senior roles at the Sunday Times, Eleanor suddenly found herself out of the corporate world at 50 - a huge shi...

We’re no Monty Don (sadly!), and this certainly isn’t Gardeners World… But we do have a great little suggestion for your bank holiday weekend in case you were having a think about how to spend your time. Plus it may require a pre-planting trip to the garden centre…which can also involve coffee and cake. A match made in heaven for a spring weekend! There is something rather special about planting s...

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this conversation isn’t for you because you don’t need to know how to make sure that your message lands well, because in so doing you will miss out on a whole raft of great life advice. This week on Countrywoman’s Guide, Emma sits down with presenter, actor and communications expert Dominic Colenso to talk about leadership, clarity and how to communicate in...

This episode was originally recorded as part of a series of interviews that I did for Do Radio, which they have generously allowed me to share with you, and I’m so pleased they did because the insights in these conversations are golden. Sarah James has been organising multi award-winning arts festivals for over 22 years. She is Managing Director and founder of non-profits Craft Festival, Bovey Tra...

Introduction One of the great things about hosting a podcast is that you get to chat to lots of people! I’m always curious to hear how people came to be doing what they do and it seems that serendipity often plays a big part in shaping careers! Timmy is no exception to this and becoming a multi-disciplined therapist happened organically after she qualified as a sports therapist. She then went on t...

So, it was an absolute treat to have an hour with him as part of my recent stint as a Do Radio presenter. David builds brands from nothing with next to nothing. Having spent a decade of his early years at Saatchi & Saatchi, he left to build his own brands. He was one of the founders of Howies in the 1990’s, which he exited via a trade sale to Timberland in the mid-2000’s. In 2008, he and Claire st...

In this episode, Sue Pryke shares her inspiring journey through ceramics, from learning how to cut leeks to prescribed lengths for supermarkets in her father’s business as a youngster, to working at Wedgwood and subsequently establishing her own design studio. She explores the importance of heritage craft skills, balancing industry with handmade quality, and how her upbringing influenced her metic...

I’ve known Dan Kieran for a little while now and first came across him when I read his book Do Start - How to Create and Run a Business (that doesn’t run you). It’s a great read and I loved the way he talked about his journey through starting and running a business. Dan is a seasoned entrepreneur and author. We’re both members of the Do Lectures community and connected on Linkedin, but our convers...

This episode was one I originally recorded for Do Radio, who have very kindly said I can also share the podcasts with you. As with the other ‘Do’ conversations, the interviews are so rich with honesty about the entrepreneurial journey and so rich with wisdom and experience that they match up really well with the things that we talk about on our CWG podcasts. I am so pleased to introduce you to Man...

Kresse Wesling, CBE, is a multi-award winning environmental entrepreneur. After first meeting the London Fire Brigade in 2005, Kresse launched Elvis & Kresse, which rescues and transforms decommissioned fire hose into innovative lifestyle products and returns 50% of profits to the Fire Fighters Charity. The company now collects 12 different waste streams and has several charitable partnerships and...

If you’re an ambitious entrepreneur scaling your business or you’re feeling stuck and can’t quite see where to go, then this interview with Les McKeown that I originally recorded for Do Radio should be on your list of things to listen to this week. Les developed his own trademark @predictablesuccess model and has worked with thousands of people running businesses over the years, so his insights ar...

I’ve known Lara for a few years now. She first popped up on my radar when she approached me to ask for advice about running her holiday let business at Combe Head House because she’d seen Dimpsey and knew that we were nearby. We met up and have become friends, chatting about business and life in general when we see each other. With three generations living together, two small children, properties...

Over Winter 2025, I hosted the Making Stuff Up Channel on Do Radio for 12 episodes, Do Radio is a new initiative which was the brainchild of David Hieatt and a fabulous team of people who came together to make it happen. Do Radio is a radio station for people who believe in the power of doing something. Featuring thought-provoking shows from inspiring minds, over the eight channels there is always...

Lucy Scudamore is one busy lady! I first came across Lucy on her Defender Deli instagram, on a reel talking through a veritable feast of delicacies that she was serving from the back of her specially converted Landrover Defender. Coronation pheasant, pheasant and stuffing sausage rolls, sticky mustard sausages - just her descriptions made me want to go and make some for my lunch! Plus being a Land...

I met Sam Cooper-Gray last year at an event for the launch of the HSBC Fearless and Thriving report about midlife female entrepreneurs, which was researched by Eleanor Mills from Noon. Sam was so passionate about raising both the profile of, and access to funding for, female entrepreneurs and the words that she spoke to the assembled room stuck with me for many weeks afterwards. Shortly after we m...

🌿 Discover the beauty of rural creativity with Kate Cullen. I finally met Kate at an event run by Charlie Dobbs and Matilda Carr earlier this year, having followed her on instagram for some time. We only had time for a brief chat but just before Christmas, Kate came down to Dimpsey in Somerset and took some beautiful photos for Dimpsey and Fablefaine , her location listing website. After we finis...

Georgia Tanner (who edits our articles and does a lot of our social media) and I had a meeting this week to discuss upcoming content for CWG. As part of that meeting, we were talking about the CWG lunch we held recently and all that we have learnt over the past year of working together. CWG has changed during that time, and to set us up ready for next year Georgia asked me if I could note down wha...

I used to suffer from this too… And it took me a lot of years to get the past tense into the above statement! * When I was in the corner at a family function, on the phone, frantically gesticulating that I would be done soon - my heart was torn in two. I felt I was being ‘less than’ at doing my job, because I wasn’t fully present, I felt I was being ‘less than’ at being a family member, because I...

I’ve got to be completely honest with you and say that when I started doing the podcast I wasn’t sure exactly how many episodes there would be. * Would I find enough people to talk to? * Would you be interested enough to listen? * Could I handle doing the tech side of things? Well, happily none of the above provided to be a problem, our interviewees have been unfailingly generous in sharing their...