A former polo groom to the Prince of Wales, who has established a thriving online business designed to capture the essence of the countryside, is backing a charity helping children get a taste of life on the farm.
Vertical Plus client Tina Fox-Edwards of Country and Home Ltd in Oxfordshire has teamed up with Farms for City Children, an educational charity formed in 1976 by prominent children’s author Michael Morpurgo and his wife Clare
The charity, based at Nethercott Farm near Okehampton in Devon needs £1 million every year to give more than 3,000 youngsters the chance to spend a week on a working farm, mucking in, working with animals and enjoying all the delights the countryside has to offer.
Tina – who sells her range of countryside themed gifts and products for the home to customers around the globe – said the charity offered the perfect fit for her business model.
“I am absolutely thrilled to be supporting Farms for City Children, a charity that for more than 40 years has been giving children an opportunity to escape inner city life and experience the true wonder of our countryside,” said Tina.
“It is the countryside that is at the heart of our business ethos and provides the inspiration for our product range, so working with a charity that inspires children to sample its magic is the perfect match.”
Tina has devoted a page on her website www.countryandhome.co.uk to information about the charity’s work and a link to its justGiving page so visitors to the site can make a donation.
E-commerce specialists at Vertical Plus, based at Plymouth Science Park, are currently helping Tina develop her business and drive more traffic to her website.
Her business was first established in 2010 as The Arundel Arms Shop, based at a local pub, selling gifts and products to people who shared Tina’s passion for the countryside.
It proved a success and enabled Tina to re-launch the business online as Country and Home in 2014, selling innovative, yet affordable products for every room in the home, as well as themed and seasonal gifts.