24 January 2023
“When I came back from Dubai, I knew we needed to do something different on the farm to not just survive, but thrive”. These are the words of Angharad Williams, a fourth-generation farmer and driving force of Dolau Ifan Ddu farm’s diversification enterprise - The Bridgend Pumpkin Patch.
Attracting visitors from across the South Wales valley and further afield, the PYO patch welcomed hides of visitors for the second year running in autumn 2022.
Angharad, who you can find through her Instagram handle @angwills, is one of the three women who will be speaking at a diversification event that will be focusing on the role women play in driving farm diversifications forward. The ‘Women as a Driving Force’ YouTube Live event will take place on the 31st January at 7:30pm.
Joining Angharad Williams to share their experience of branching out from purely traditional farming practices and adding additional money-making activities to the business will be farming influencer and Instagram sensation, Zoë Colville.
A familiar face to her 40K followers on Instagram, Zoë, or as she is more widely known, The Chief Shepherdess, will be sharing her journey from a Soho based hairdresser to a full-time farmer and business owner including The Little Farm Fridge - an on-farm butchery selling meat boxes online direct from farm to fork.
Having captured the hearts and minds of her vast following on social media through her no-nonsense attitude and openness towards sharing life lessons learnt through farming, Zoë is certain to bring a different dimension to the panel’s discussions.
Similar to Angharad and Zoë, our third guest is also making a strong contribution to the rural economy and satisfying sweet cravings along the A40 between Brecon and Llandeilo. Sophie Jones established Truly Scrumptious, a baking and catering business from her home farm, Aberbran Fach in 2017 after graduating from Harper Adams University.
Having always had a passion for baking from a very young age, Sophie developed her catering skills during her final years at school and developed industry knowledge studying a degree in Food and Consumer Studies. Fuelled by passion and knowledge, Truly Scrumptious continues to grow from strength to strength supplying personal, events and business orders. We’ll discover how she juggles this and her work on the family farm during the event.
For the first time, the event will be held as a YouTube Live on Farming Connect’s channel @CyswlltFfermioFarmingConnect. With this platform fast becoming the place for a farming fix, make sure to subscribe to the channel for notifications on the latest releases.
This event will also include a question-and-answer session, giving attendees and followers the opportunity to ask any burning questions to the bold business women.
Individuals are encouraged to register for the event through the Farming Connect website to receive exclusive pre-event content. To submit questions for the speakers, please contact teleri.thomas@menterabusnes.co.uk.
Farming Connect is delivered by Menter a Busnes and Lantra Wales and funded by the Welsh Government and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.