Tuesday

So Monday night we had morrice dancers teaching us traditional morrice dancing...must say I wasn't sure about doing this but ended up having the biggest laugh ever! The guys were great and really up for a laugh! Couldn't believe how much energy it took to do these dances! It was knackered by the end of the session! Thoroughly enjoyed it and would love to do it again!

Wednesday...we visited businesses. Was very tired from the night before so I slept for an hour in the bus until we arrived at our first business. This business was Hopes of Longtown. Christine was really enthusiastic and she explained about her shop and how she started her business. She was travelling in Australia when she heard that her local shop had closed down so when she returned she went about trying to reopen it which she has now done successfully. She explained about problems she was facing and tasked us to come up with a solution to 1. Trying to get more young people into the shop and 2. Creating a sign to encourage people to stop.
The second business we visited was White Haywood Farm. They have a B&B and restaurant business. They find that they are really remote and asked us 1. How do they increase the footfall through the door of their business and 2. If one of them gets ill how do they ensure their business keeps going as currently they do everything themselves.
The last business we visited was Wiggly Wigglers. They own a gardening business and florist as well as farming land for grass, barley and wheat seed. They took us round their business and explained what they did. The problems they tasked us with were 1. How do they break into the funeral flower market and 2. How do they produce a cheaper bird seed without reducing quality.
I found these visits very useful and it was great to see how other people have started their business and problems they face.
In the evening we had a games night with a local young farmers group which was great fun! It was nice to meet some if the locals.