About Peter's Eden

Peter's Eden How it all started

Peter’s Eden started out, before we had managed to sell our houses, after a comment made by Stuart about not feeling sorry for ourselves – to get off our a***s and start our business! We began by making the things we were good at: jam, chutney and cordial, and selling them at a local show in Naseby. It went well (not brilliantly) but we were all pleasantly surprised at how easily something we took for granted could sell. From that one show, we were offered a place on another and so on. By the time we moved to Friskney, we had made a lot of mistakes, but were on the right track.

Once we got here, we built a commercial grade kitchen in the garden – sorry, converted an outbuilding – with the help of a grant from Business Link (one word of advice, never get a “friend” to do any building work for you). By September 2007 we were up and running in the kitchen and Denise started working for us (she is a godsend). Since then we have increased our range, built up a large stock and begun selling to farm shops and restaurants. Next stop – London!

Our first pigs arrived (pigs 1 and 2) in March 2007 and we have not looked back – we are currently on pigs 32-38! Our meat is well known locally and our sausages and bacon sell out within hours. We have a flock of Kerry Hill sheep purchased from HMP North Sea Camp after a chance remark about wanting Kerry Hill sheep (that’s our Guardian Angel again!), ducks, ex-battery hens and a cockerel. In summer 2007 we thought we’d have a go at hatching some of their eggs and we ended up with 47 chicks, half of which were cockerels, and the other half who keep appearing with chicks of their own!

What the "team" think

Chris: Living the Good Life? A real possibility or an impossible dream? Well we’re giving it our best shot! We are not there yet but with every passing season we get a step closer, all we need is a little lottery win. If you’d asked me five years ago if I’d be tending to sheep, building pig arks or baling hay instead of travelling to Europe and America supporting various race car projects I’d have laughed out loud, but here I am. It was all Hannah’s idea! I grew up with my hard working parents and two brothers on a housing estate in the North East of England. We moved to Manchester in 1981 when my Dad was promoted. In 1986 I left school to join the RAF as an apprentice technician. After nearly 13 years I elected to leave the Air Force to join Ricardo, a motorsport transmission company. Once the boys arrived, my priorities changed - I wanted to see more of the kids, live a healthier lifestyle and above all be my own boss. That’s when all our ideas came together, sell up and move to the country! After all how hard could it be? To put it politely I’ve never worked so hard, but I wouldn’t go back! All I need to do is find a way of paying the mortgage…

Hannah: Where to start? My brother, Stuart, and I were brought up in the Channel Islands, on Alderney and then Guernsey, where we went to boarding school. We were so incredibly lucky to have a childhood which allowed us as much freedom as people enjoyed 50 years ago. On returning to England in 1989, I did my ‘A’ Levels (pretty badly) and went on to Teacher Training College, which enabled me to transfer to Hull University on an Environmental Biology degree course. Chris and I met in 1992 and we married in 1996, a month after my graduation. I worked for the Environment Agency, formerly the NRA, whilst a student and after I was married. I then left there and went to work for Gibson’s Veterinary Hospital in Oakham, Rutland where I ran the veterinary lab – a fabulous job. I stayed there until January 2000, just before our eldest son was born. Dad, Peter (hence the name), was diagnosed with cancer in 1995 and died in 1997. When something like this happens, it does make you question what is important in life. When Peter appeared in 2000 and Joel followed 2 years later, the seeds of doubt about our lifestyle were already sown. Chris was always away in the States and it was having an effect on our family life. The arrival of Noah in 2004 was the deciding factor – we sold our house, Mum sold hers and we found our house in Friskney (obviously not as simply as that!). We moved here in June 2006, the land followed in November 2006 and the rest, as they say, is history!!! One thing’s for sure – we’ve definitely got a guardian angel!

Liz: My name is Elizabeth, usually known as Liz (or Gran, Mum or the Witch of the west, according to which member of the family is addressing me!) I met my late husband Peter when we were pupils at the two grammar schools in Lichfield, where his mother still lives. We were married for 29 years with the first 15 years spent in the Midlands. When our children Stuart and Hannah were 10 and 8 years respectively, we took the unusual step of moving to Alderney, one of the smaller of the Channel Islands, where we lived for seven and a half years, Peter being a Maths and Science teacher. It was the early ‘80s and was like going back in time about 20 years and this slower lifestyle had a profound effect on us all – reflected in Hannah’s wish to give her children as ‘natural’ a childhood as possible, such as the one she and her brother had enjoyed. It also gave me an interest in growing our own fruit and vegetables as in Alderney there was only one supply boat a week and none at all if the weather was too bad. We moved back to the mainland in 1989 into an old farmhouse in Lincolnshire where we continued to be as self sufficient as possible. When Peter died, I eventually moved nearer to Chris and Hannah when their boys started arriving, and now live in the other half of our pair of houses in Friskney.

I make all the jams and chutneys with Denise’s invaluable help and am delighted that they are so well received and even sought after. In my spare time (!) I am also studying for an Open University degree, with only one more year to go, so I am kept pretty busy.
I think my husband Peter would be very proud of what we have achieved so far, and especially would be full of admiration for

Denise: Hi, my name is Denise. I am wife to Mark and mother of 8 years old twins (Libby and Katie).

We moved from a big city to the rural setting of Friskney 6 years ago, for a better way of life for us all. Having met Hannah through the local Toddler Group, I started working for her in September 2007.

Peter’s Eden has changed my life more than they will ever know. This is the kind of job I like getting up for in the morning. There are no two days the same – I do and learn different things every day.

It is a great family run business to work for and I hope it continues to build and build.

Good luck to them all (and me, or I will be out of a job!!)

Peter: My name is Peter and I’m 10 years old. I love the farm for the sounds. The views are amazing. I enjoy watching the ducks -
we have a duck called “Ginger” and a naughty young sheep called Shaunie. Sometimes when I help Daddy at the field he lets me drive the Landrover by myself, I can just reach the pedals (low ratio only, under close supervision – Chris)! In the summer I have my own job of cutting the grass by the polytunnel. Soon I am going to start my own flock of chickens but I’m not sure what sort yet.

Joel: Hello, I’m Joel. I love the farm because we have lots of sheep and we have 15 ducks. One of our ducks is called Ginger because it has a ginger head. My favourite thing to do at the farm is driving the tractor with Daddy. The best day I have had was the day all our friends came to help get the hay in and we all had tractor and trailer rides.

Noah: I’m Noah and I’m six. I always go to the den to play at the field. I like going into the hidey hole to hide. When it rains we get lots of puddles and I love splashing in them. The pigs are my favourite animals – I like the stripy ones best.