About our team
Lorraine Melton
Generally found stomping about with clipboard in hand, Loz makes sure all we grow enough plants for all our shows and internet orders. When away at shows herself, she writes endless lists for everyone but has the sneaky suspicion they are used as beer mats beside the deck chairs that everyone gets out.
John Webster
In charge of booking all the shows we go to, John can usually be found in the office, where he likes to play music at ear splitting volumes. It is his ability to wear shoes and socks with his shorts in the summer without any obvious embarrassment that has us all in awe.
Caroline Wakelin
As one of our growing / selling team Caz can be relied on to add a touch of class to the Herbal Haven team. Whilst the rest of us are plodding around in our boring boots / jeans combo, Caz will be sporting a variety of colourful hats, shrugs, footwear and tops. This hasn't escaped the notice of people other than the Herbal Haven staff either so it was no surprise that she met her boyfriend at one of the shows we attended.
Ellie Cummings
As one of our growing / selling team, if there is mischief to be made, you can guarantee Ellie will be involved with it somewhere. There has been the lower half of a handmade torso floating around the farm now, appearing beneath car tyres, climbing in through windows and disappearing into dustbins. Always keen to have a radio playing Ellie and Caz can often be seen boogying with trays of herbs in hand.
Vanessa Neville
Nessa has been a practising and consulting herbalist since qualifying in 2000. She worked on the nursery for four years and managed to start making products for patients, family and friends in her spare time. No mean feat. After finishing here she developed her own range of ‘gorgeous and good for you’ skin products using quality pure ingredients without parbens, fragrances, alcohol or synthetic ingredients that have beneficial effects without harming you. All are fresh and active and made in small batches and best kept cool.
Tony Littlejohns
As one of our growing / selling team, Tony’s lunch time platter is always the subject of scrutiny. Whilst the rest of us are tucking into cheese sarnies, you can guarantee Tony will have mixed salads of olives and herbs, along with bagels topped with mashed mackerel and cream cheese etc. He learnt his lesson about leaving his food unguarded when Grace – the dog – managed to make off with one such bagel in the summer. Luckily for us he is also a photographer and so has taken lots of fab images around the nursery for us.
Pete Juranyi
Pete joined us from Hungary to work on the nursery taking all our cuttings. He wanted to improve his English and we have tried our best to teach him a whole new vocabulary. His standard 'it was nice' to questions about anything from trips home to see his girlfriend to meals out has now become a bit of Herbal Haven catchphrase.
Mark Gibbs
As part of our growing / selling team, Mark works for us part time and sells at the local market every weekend. As the owner of a couple of vehicles and several bikes we never know which form of transport he will turn up to work on / in. What we do know though is the weather needs to be guaranteed dry for it to be a motorbike.
Jill Smith
With the patience of a saint, Jill comes in one day a week to decipher and collate all the hand written scrawls from the shows. She brings in her own music and plays it, whenever she gets a chance, at a reasonable volume.
Mike Novak
Living locally, Mike comes in once a week to back up our computers and sort out any other technical niggles that crop up. If he didn’t before, he has learnt to love music played at volume after sharing the office with John.
Zsuzsa Serer
After four years of being our human dynamo, Zsuzsa now works for us part time after recently having had her second baby. Also Hungarian, she is the only person Pete has ever made a cup of tea for, so happy is he to have someone to chat to in his mother tongue.
Jo Eldrett
Getting all the mail order herbs sorted and sent is all down to Jo with her great organisational skills. Woody the lab always comes with her to work but it is the school holidays that are the most entertaining when her two children accompany her. Jo looks as though she is off on holiday as she struggles round from the car with lunches, kids on scooters, bags and dog.
Woody
A well behaved gentleman, the only vice Woody has is food. It isn’t unknown for him to sneak his nose into someone’s bag and quietly wolf down their sandwiches without being observed.
Socks and Grace
Socks and Grace are the wannabe guard dogs that like to bark at unusual noises and people. Although Grace loves everyone, it has taken the postman a fair number of biscuits to convince Socks that he is friend and not foe.
