Keeping It In The Family

Three women reveal how and why they’ve set up shop very close to home

- Kim Willis

‘We spent one day working the land together and I never left’

Vicky and Ben Lyons run Lyonsleaf, the Republic of Natural Skincare. Vicky, 49, and Ben, 46, founded the company in 2012, making 100% natural products from herbs they grow on their Somerset farm. Back in 2007, I wanted to live in a self-sufficient community, and a friend told me about Ben’s farm. I turned up to help, we spent one day working on the land together and I’ve been here ever since. It was so refreshing to meet someone so enthusiastic, who wants to leap out of bed and work hard. We spent the first few years digging veg beds and selling veg boxes to local chefs.

We bought 6,000 herbs buried under snow on the winter solstice 2010, and we had no idea if they would survive as we knew very little about them, but with a local herb farm selling the lot for £500, we took a chance. We also grew the edible flower calendula for chefs, so we made some calendula cream, and it sold so well at our market stall that within a year we gave up growing vegetables and focused on skincare made with herbs we grew, such as calendula and marshmallow. And in 2012, we launched the Lyonsleaf website.