Tom and Claire Noblet

We began the Prince’s Trust programme with The Farmer Network in 2011, securing a grant and loan in 2012. Tom
had started working for Max and Jenny Burrow on a dairy and sheep farm in South Cumbria and we used the funding
to begin a share farming agreement with Max and Jenny, which has since developed into a partnership.

Falling milk prices led us to look at ways of adding value to our milk and in 2015 we put in a small dairy and began to make some of our milk into cheese. We now make two types of cheese; both are hand-made, unpasteurised and are cloth-bound and buttered before being stored.

We currently make cheese one day a week, using 500 litres of milk to make 50kg of cheese which we sell from the farm and through a small number of local shops, to which we also sell our unpasteurised (raw) milk.

Completing the Prince’s Trust programme was invaluable in terms of the business advice we gained – the Explore Enterprise course covered all aspects of business planning and marketing, whilst the access to a business advisor meant that we were able to put together a sound business plan specific to us. Without the Farmer Network running the Prince’s Trust programme in this area, we would have been unlikely to secure loans or funding from other sources, so are grateful for all the work that goes into running the programme.

The Prince's Countryside Fund
Prince's Trust