The BBC actually rang me 10 days before they arrived, to check that I would be happy to be filmed ?!! … hold on – let me think about that …...........................'Yes of course' I said, without trying to sound too excited (tricky)
They wanted to come and film a village like Tissington, as it's a very
unique village to live AND work in. And of course they wanted to meet
the owner of this amazing village, Sir Richard Fitzherbert. Sir Richard
lives in the Hall with his wife Fiona and his many dogs (their
children have left for the big cities). Apart from thrilled/nervous, I
really cant imagine how he must of felt, when the trustees to the
estate, knocked on the door of his London flat home, and announced his
inheritance, and at the age of 27.... if you'd like to find out more
about Tissington Hall and the Village follow this link to the website
http://www.tissingtonhall.co.uk/
It's a quintessential village set in an Derbyshire Country Estate spread over 2,000 acres or so, with 54
assorted size homes/cottages dotted about, a duck pond and 6 natural
spring wells. Before I start to ramble on about the wells, its probably
better if I put a link here
http://www.tissingtonhall.co.uk/tissington-hall-village-well-dressing.html
Within this special village are a number of small business like myself.
Tissington Nursery (specialist
Alpine plant centre). A Butchers based in the old abattoir. Tissington Kindergarten, Edward & Vintage Sweet Shop (based in a one up one down cottage). A gift shop (based in the old joinery) called Acanthus. A
carpenter/joiner based in a barn at the top of the village. A couple of
bed and breakfasts (information on the Tissington website) and last but
not least Herberts Tea rooms, which
of course belongs to the lord of the manor, Sir Richard Fitzherbert.
On a Wick & A Prayer is based in what was the Tissington Blacksmiths Forge, a building full of history, and what was once a hive of activity and business, catering for all the local farmers which included shoeing of horses, gate making, windows, and many other forge pieces of equipment. Now a very different business from its original use, and a fabulous building to grow a business in, it has the advantage that our home is next door to the Forge building. We live in what was the Blacksmiths house, with has very unusual windows (created by the blacksmith) and a selection of symbols around the windows to represent the Blacksmiths business. As a family, we feel very blessed to live (since 1995), and bring our children up in such a special home.
On a Wick and a Prayer was born in 1997 on my
kitchen table after our 2 children had started school. 22 years on and I
now have 2 manufacturing units (my other unit is based in Dovedale,
just 2 miles down the road) and 12 locally sourced employees … who all
love what they do. We design and manufacture all of our creations, and we are never short
of ideas, in fact- there's never enough time to fulfill all of the ideas.
Having started my candle business using my daughters candle kit, it has always been at the back of my mind to create my own kit, to sell within the business. And so in 2018 the idea came to fruition and EAZICANDLE was born https://www.eazicandle.co.uk/. Over the last 22 years, my biggest passion has been about reusing/refilling empty candle containers ….. candle making/filling made easy.
The episode will air on BBC1 Countryfile on Sunday 26th May 2019, tune in to see On a Wick and to find out more about the other businesses in Tissington Village.