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

I first came across Rock and Ruby socks when Ruby approached me about a collaboration with Dimpsey , my shepherd hut stay business. I took a look at Ruby’s website and loved her whole British-made ethos and the fact that her strapline talks about them being designed to last and to bring little moments of joy to the everyday. Socks for those who live thoughtfully… Handcrafted cotton and wool socks...

In this episode of the podcast, I sit down in a hand-built bow-top caravan with Sophie Allen - boatbuilder, wool-spinner, lambing shed assistant, cyclist, and explorer of paths less trodden. She’s also my goddaughter, so I’ve had the joy of watching her journey unfold from the very beginning. Sophie’s story winds from a geography degree at Bristol to a stable graduate role in the Civil Service - a...

I’m Tanya Lynch, a mother, a ridgeback owner and the founder of Ease Retreats . I love what I do, collaborating with authors and creatives, hosting retreats in beautiful venues across the UK. Most recently I launched The Bibliotherapists podcast with my co-host Toni Jones. I’m also a therapeutic journalling coach and through my programme ‘ Rage on a Page’ , I help midlife women channel their emoti...

Eva Humphries is a Nottingham-based nutritionist (BANT-registered and CNHC-accredited) with over nine years of clinical experience and an MSc in Clinical Nutrition. After switching careers from IT, she founded Wholefood Warrior to champion a down-to-earth, science-backed approach to healthy eating. Eva specialises in metabolic health, including type 2 diabetes and geriatric nutrition, and works ac...

For our 21st episode, we thought that it would be nice to go behind the scenes and get two of the team chatting together about our recent lunch, and a topic that it seems, strikes fear into the heart of many people - facing that camera and smiling while the shutter clicks away. First off, at the end of June we held our inaugral CWG lunch. It’s really important to us that we’re bringing you content...

Chloe Fuller always thought her life would follow a seemingly perfect script: she was sporty, social, and academically gifted. But everything changed in 2011, when a seemingly minor infection left her severely ill and never fully recovering. At just 13, Chloe faced a reality in stark contrast to her dreams: she lost her friends, her ability to attend school, and the independence that teens typical...

Nestled in the scenic northeast of Scotland, countryside influencer Ginny Mills is redefining what authenticity looks like in the digital age. With a warm presence and a passion for both rural living and body positivity, Ginny’s content offers a refreshing glimpse into her everyday life - one that includes muddy boots, supermarket fashion hauls, and a growing young horse named Remi. Though her ful...

In this powerful 30-minute interview, Emma speaks with Suzanne Alderson - author, speaker, and founder of the award-winning charity Parenting Mental Health . With raw honesty and a wealth of hard-earned wisdom, Suzanne shares her personal journey through trauma, crisis, and healing, and how it led her to build a lifeline for tens of thousands of parents navigating the complexities of adolescent me...

Emma Fuerbringer’s journey to ranch life in Canada wasn’t a straight line. Originally from the UK, she trained in law and fully expected to remain in England. But a twist of fate during her travels brought her to Western Canada, where she met her husband Peter. What started as a brief North American adventure turned into a 26-year love story with Alberta’s sweeping landscapes and tight-knit commun...

When our very own Georgia suggested that we should interview Jessy Palmer, we took a look at her instagram page and thought that hers is a story that many of you would find inspiring. Raised on her family farm, it’s clear that Jessy has a strong sense of her family roots, but from a very young age, her interest lay in raising animals rather than following the existing family farm model. Apart from...

Alice Plunkett is known to many of us through her role as a Racing Journalist, currently for ITV Racing and also out and about on the Eventing Circuit with her husband, William Fox-Pitt. Never one to shy away from a challenge, when Alice spotted the potential to create a co-working space on the Hinton St Mary Estate, she was keen to ensure that the end result would be somewhere inspiring, as well...

One of the lovely things about being in our younger years is that we are not yet burdened with experience. Experience is a wonderful thing, but sometimes it can fill us full of warnings about things we’re considering doing. But without that filter, we absolutely believe that anything is possible, so when 21 year old Maddie Beaumont and her relatively new partner, Ben Porter, were presented with th...

Bianca Barrett is a writer, a journalist and an editor as well as the founder of The Scoop : a membership site offering a journalist’s insider secrets on getting you and your brand featured in the media. As a writer for VOGUE, Courier, The Sunday Times, Refinery 29, Cosmopolitan, BBC and the Evening Standard as well as a Senior Contributor to Forbes, Bianca has seen many business pitches for cover...

Harriet Willis runs Flora Percival, a Somerset-based, UK made, knitwear brand, established in 2023. Interviewing Harriet was such an archetypal Countrywoman’s Guide interview that I’ll describe where we were as we chatted. We were sitting at Harriet’s kitchen table, in her country cottage with a mug of tea poured from a teapot and a pile of gorgeous jumpers in front of us. As I talked to Harriet a...

Spotting a gap in the market is always a good place for a business idea to germinate and for Hannah King, attending the Game Fair in 2018, revealed one of those elusive white spaces. As she wandered around, she gradually realised that, despite there being many clothing stands, there wasn’t actually much on offer that was specifically made for women living a country lifestyle. Most of the offerings...

How are we already on Podcast 10?! I’m very conscious that I’ve spent the last 9 episodes of the podcast and many more written interviews before that interviewing people and asking them to share their experience with you all. But some of you probably don’t know much about who I am and what makes me tick and how I got to where I am now. So it only seems fair that I put my hat into the ring as well,...

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 p...

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...

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...

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 n...

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 q...

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...

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 zoo...

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 C...

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 som...