Who We Are
David & Michelle, husband & wife.
David: a farmer through & through. Born into a farming family in South west England, ran his own dairy herd, became a farming contractor and is interested in building and construction.
Michelle: management development trainer and organisational development consultant by profession, interested in good natural food and green fingered by nature. Originated in the Midlands, but moved around with work, until settling in Devon for 15 years before moving with David to Scotland.
A HAPPY ACCIDENT!
We moved to an extremely run down, neglected 50 acre farm near Dornoch in the Highlands of Scotland in 2003. Some say it had not been farmed properly for over 20 years. We began to grow fresh natural food for our young family. We, gave some surplus salad leaves to an elderly neighbour who suggested we try to sell some to the local shop. We did. It sold well and a business was born. Our first tiny batch of leaves left the farm in 2004. Our local fruit & veg wholesaler introduced our salad leaves to high end establishments such as Skibo Castle & the Carnegie Club, still one of our valued customers. We now supply farm shops, delis, hotels, restaurants and wholesalers all over the UK and export overseas.
Over the years we have expanded our growing area to meet demand for our fine salad DRESS ME UP ® and have taken on a dedicated team of staff. Our salad continues to be eaten by the rich and famous, used by celebrity chefs, served for special occasions and with lovely meals created by many chefs, & served on plates up & down the UK in busy households.
We did not name our salad business until 2010, when we entered our first Food and Drink Awards. saladworx was given its’ name and we scooped the Highlands and Islands Food and Drink Awards, Product Innovation Award, 2010; our first award win and a very special one. We have won many awards since then. The top accolade being a double win at the national Scotland Food and Drink Excellence Awards. This really put salad back on the menu!
Our story continues. Over the years we have rebuilt the farm, erected farm buildings and physically created a farm yard out of what was “a bog” in order to be able to run the farm. We have built, then extended twice, our salad packing shed. More recently we have built a large, brand new, bespoke salad packing facility and bottling plant for our new ranges of dressings/marinades/drizzles.
In our usual style, we project managed this ourselves and carried out all the building work with the help of staff and friends.
When our 3 children were small and time was short, we often used shop bought dressings on our salad. None were good enough, so we set about developing our own. These have all been inspired by natural Highland ingredients and a fantastic herb garden on the farm. Michelles’ 20 year old interest in making dressings was rekindled.
Our first range of dressings were launched in 2012. The Highland Premium Hand Made TM Range.
Then, in January 2013 we launched our second range, which we have named the citrus-sea TM range.
A very big thank you to friends, family, acquaintances and offers of help, suggestions and advice along the way.
Thanks to the many dressings “taste testers” too!
saladworx and running the farm continue to be an interesting journey, a lot of very hard work, challenging and fun!
Our Story to be continued………:
(Click on Pictures for a larger view)
