Gathered & Grown

Ceri and Ben Richards bought five acres of East Devon in 2022, a bare field that had been horse pasture, and started a herb farm from nothing: planning permission, a temporary life in yurts on site, infrastructure built by hand. Ceri came to it through ecology, foraging and horticulture, having begun making seasonal blends from foraged ingredients in 2018. Ben handles the practical, admin and digital side. Since then: an orchard of traditional fruit varieties, a meadow in progress, over 1,500 hedgerow trees.

The herbal teas are grown, picked, dried and blended on the farm, all of it from their own ground, and they have won awards for it. Bird and insect boxes are dotted about, the wildlife habitats are part of the point rather than a footnote, and more farm-grown products are planned. Order online and delivery is free over 35 pounds, which is the sensible way to try more than one blend at once.