Wellbeing Farm More than Just a Venue
Mark Bannister is Learning, Development & Merchandising Manager at Crown Paints Ltd, in Darwen Lancashire; a company that recognises the importance of a ‘People Plan’ and nurtures and develops talent from within, as this undoubtedly raises performance and helps grow the business.
“I look for training environments that are inspiring, unique, great quality, good value as well as comfortable and practical for the needs of the group” said Mark “and when I came across The Wellbeing Farm it looked like they’d deliver on all counts.”
The Wellbeing Farm is a meetings and conference venue like no other, combining modern meeting room spaces with a state-of-the-art cookery school, Llama trekking and an away-from-it-all environment that’s a far cry from the hustle and bustle of the usual town or city corporate venues. Set in some of Lancashire’s most picturesque countryside, The Wellbeing Farm is the brainchild of Celia Gaze whose vision for an extraordinary venue with well-being, creativity and contemplative calm at its heart became a reality in April 2013. Since the launch, more and more businesses are feeling the benefit of The Wellbeing Farm’s unique atmosphere and the advantages of feeding the body as well as the mind.
Mark worked with Gill Mansfield at Wellbeing Farm on creating a bespoke, two-day relationship building programme for their Homebase buying team and Crown marketing and account managers. Over the two days they used the training room and barn at Wellbeing Farm, the superbly kitted-out kitchen for cake-making and the farm’s amazing outdoors, for Llama Trekking.
The training took place in July (2014) and was a new departure for Crown as it brought together their marketing and sales staff with one of their key customers, the buying team from Homebase. The sessions aimed to establish new ways of working together to grow the business and improve customer service, through a greater understanding of each company’s needs and improved communication.
“We used the main barn for the initial team building exercises and the fully equipped training rooms in the main building. What made this even more special, was the opportunity to do a baking session that worked fantastically well and the outcomes tasted even better!” said Mark, adding ”One of the things that impressed us most was the help that the team at Wellbeing Farm gave us in designing the event. The icing on the cake was walking the llamas! Initially a little scary but as our confidence grew, we fell in love with these unusual animals.”
The Wellbeing Farm is committed to locally sourced food and the family’s historic links with butchery (the family own award-winning Whitehead’s Butchers) and the farms in and around Edgworth, make a wide range of outstanding produce available to customers of The Wellbeing Farm.
“I have used a number of good venues however the food quality was not up to The Wellbeing Farm standard and this was clearly appreciated by the delegates. We all look for value for money but not at the expense of quality so I was delighted to have achieved so much within our budget. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend The Wellbeing Farm and will be using their excellent facilities again soon for more leadership and sales team training.”
For more information on The Wellbeing Farm or to discuss your training or team-building needs please email: [email protected] or Tel: 01204 852113
For ideas on a wide range of meetings and conference venues across Lancashire visitlancashire.com