Country Rustics | Helen & Alan Gregory

“You can't buy happiness, but you can buy local and that's kind of the same.”

Nestled in the picturesque village of Swettenham, Cheshire, Country Rustics is a family-run business proudly led by Helen and Alan Gregory. This remarkable couple continues the legacy of crafting high-quality, durable, and sustainable outdoor furniture that stands the test of time.

In this episode of This Place, Our Voices, we sit down with Helen and Alan to explore the value of supporting local businesses, the charm of offering a truly personal and bespoke service, and ponder that never asked before question...

Do birds shiver?

To take advantage of their wonderful bird tables in time for Christmas, or in fact, any other time of year visit www.countryrustics.co.uk.

Join them on Facebook via https://www.facebook.com/countryrustics and Instagram via https://www.instagram.com/country_rustics_/

And if you would like to test their skills with ideas of your very own project, email them at countryrusticsCW12@gmail.com or call +441260 224909, no matter where you are located.

If you would like to feature as guest on a future episode of This Place, Our Voices, submit your application via our form: https://forms.gle/L33hrKYaV5Z8qq9r5

"This Place, Our Voices" Credits:

Host: Elyssa Germain
Produced By: OneZeroCreative https://www.onezerocreative.co.uk/

Transcript

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In this episode, we're joined by Helen and Alan of Country Rustics, the Cheshire based producers of high quality, long lasting and sustainable outdoor furniture. Welcome both. Thank you for joining me.

Hello.

Hi. Nice to meet you.

So, tell me the story behind Country Rustics. I believe it's a family company, correct?

Yes. my grandfather started it, we think in 1966, somewhere around there, late 60s. and it's just progressed from there. My father and him ran the business until they both retired. And we're going from there really.

Did it start off that they were just tinkering around and then decided, oh, do you know what, we could sell these?

It was more product development, in all honesty. It was. We started doing. Well, they started doing logs, and just for a bit of cash, really.

Yeah.

And it's developed from there into potato boxes and then people saying, oh, can you make this and make that? And we got to where the stage we're at now, really. So, making garden furniture a high quality stuff and possibilities, are endless with it. Thank you.

Yeah, yeah. The interesting part is that some of the original pieces we still, the design of them we still carry on making today because it's just a timeless design. We've got the rustic panels that we, we make. We've kept the name rustic panels, although now they're made from a more smooth planed timber. You've got your rustic seats and benches, which again is made from the planed timber. And then there's rose arches.

That's correct, yeah. And picnic tables and all.

What's a rose arch? Oh, is it for like when the roses grow up in.

That's correct, yeah. Just for your garden path and rose arch you walk through.

Haven't got a big enough garden to have a rose arch, unfortunately.

Oh, you must have somewhere, you know. Well, you can put a rose arch on a wall and have like a seat inside it if you want.

That’s very true. You need to know how to grow roses. Do you do roses as well? So where does your passion come from? Is it literally because it is part of who you are, from your relatives or have you always had an interest in, in woodwork, for want of a better expression?

I've always loved woodwork. and then being down there in the workshop with my parents and grandparents when I was younger, I sort of, I've taken on the passion. And then when I met Helen, and I found my soulmate that is just.

As into woodwork as you.

Thank you. Passionate is the word I was thinking about.

Yeah.

Which like being a woman then there aren't that many of us into, into woodwork. When I was growing up, there wasn't really anybody I could identify. You like the same things as me, like building things, making things. I do think it's changing a little bit now. it's, you know, good to, good to see on social media and whatever, other ladies in business doing woodwork. So, there's more of us than you think.

It absolutely has been a male dominated area, and I remember when I was at school, I think it was craft design, technology. That was something I loved to do. And I love to go out into my dad's shed and make things with wood. Absolutely not to the standard that you're doing it at all, but it was something where I bonded with my father over it. And you know, even though being female it wasn't a usual thing, and I think I was one of maybe two, three in CDT. I think it's a lot more common than it was back then, but it's great to have female influence in the, in the industry. Have you found other people that, that have had a similar experience?

I found, other people in the industry who are female and do things to do with wood. But from being absolutely honest, I haven't found anybody, who makes a lot of the things. But we don't really know of many other businesses that do what we do. so, it's more because we're a type of business few and far between.

What makes you unique at the moment in comparison to all the companies in the area that do this sort of work?

So, when we say handcrafted, we mean it often. Other companies say it's been handcrafted, hand finished and it's just a little bit.

Whereas we get a raw pack of timber from the supplier, and we make everything on site. There's not one piece of product that we create that isn't made to your specifications. If you wanted it 6 inches tall, if you wanted it a foot wider, it doesn't matter to us. At, all we can do exactly what you want.

We've got a range of machines that do the moulding, so you've got the Dulux edging on our bird tables. That comes in as a pack of wood. We have to put it through the.

Spindle moulder, mould it all up and shavings everywhere.

But you get put to good use.

The horses like that stuff. So, it's okay.

Absolutely nothing better than a company that has pretty much zero waste because your Waste product can be used for something else.

That's correct, yeah.

Have you faced any challenges in recent years?

Covid was a challenging time for us. We were busy, really busy, because the big DIY stores and building suppliers were closed or limiting their sales. those same stores faced a challenge to us now, because they do so much in bulk of a lower quality, and quite often charge a lower price than what we do. But when you're looking at the items side by side, then the quality of lots of things they sell is lower.

What would you do? Would you spend an extra 5 on a panel and have it last for another 10 years?

A fence panel?

That's correct, yeah. Fence panel another 10 years. Or would you buy some B&Q piece of, you know what.

Cardboard.

Cardboard. And, how it lasts two years?

Yeah. I think people go for convenience and accessibility, but potentially people don't know what else is out there, what other options are available to them. So, it's interesting that Covid, although it was a horrible time for everybody, you were one of those businesses that were really busy because people couldn't necessarily go to those big retail.

If you think about it, everybody was on furlough, so they've got. They couldn't go anywhere. So, we had fantastic weather, brilliant weather. So, you’re in the garden, wanting seats, wanting fence panels, and they couldn't get any of it. Yeah, the only issue we had was getting the timber. We couldn't get it in fast enough and you didn't know what you paid until it was on the yard. Ah, that was, one of the biggest issues we had because you're trying to work from a price list, but you couldn't do that because you didn't know what you're paying for the timber. And it turned up.

So, in basics, then, just to sort of really outline it, if you were looking at a fence panel bought from another retailer, how long would that last?

Normally, depending on the style last, what's.

The best you could get out of that?

from another retailer?

Yeah, one of the cheaper, lower quality, mid-range.

Yeah. I don't really pay any attention really, but I'd probably say seven to eight years.

And what about one of yours?

We've had people come back to us after 22 years.

Wow.

And say it's only just died and.

It’s only a little bit more expensive.

Exactly.

Yeah. So, yeah, I mean that. That for me just. You don't really need to say anything else. End of podcast. No, I'm joking. But if you're looking for hard-wearing, long-lasting value for money.

Yeah.

This is what you need.

Exactly.

I always have the added bonus of being made to the size if you've got a funny shape.

Yes.

funny width that you need. Whereas if you buy one of these off the peg ones.

Yeah.

You have to cut it down and.

That’s a lot of work.

it's working Sometimes it doesn't give the aesthetics you want. You put up with it because you think that's all there is, but it isn't.

Yeah.

Can have what you, what you need, what looks right, what's good for the situation. Only a tiny bit more but it lasts significantly longer.

And do you help people with their like measurements, and do you do the installation as well?

Yeah, we can do that all.

Yeah. So, it's a one stop shop for them. Yes.

Yeah. We've got some guides on our website which we're, we're adding to particularly for the gates. We can talk you through if you live further afield, how to take your measurements, what measurements we need. We can explain why we need those measurements, so you don't make a, an error or over overlook something or if you're very local tourists, we're often popping out, measuring, measuring up for people.

We do various styles of gates as well. This is garden gates; this is the side entrance gates to yeah people's houses. There's the close board gates that are very affordable, fully framed. Not the legend brace. So, there's a frame all the way around to make it long lasting and extra secure. and then we also do a barrel board finish which is like an overlap board. Very similar to TNG which people recognise.

Yeah.

very durable, loaded to look at same effect as T&G and we just love it.

And then to move with the times, the picket style gates have got popular recently. Either horizontal like side to side boarded or the vertical up and down boarded with gaps in between. So, you've got the screening but you can still see through. Because don't we all like to just have a little look at what other people are doing but we don't really want people to look in on us.

Yeah, absolutely. So, how's the business grown in the timescales from its inception would you say? was there obviously Covid, as we've already discussed, was a huge boost to the business.

I remember the current workshop that we've got me put up maybe 20 odd years ago. Would you say Helen?

Yeah, we started about 20 years ago with the progression from that.

It was just a glorified shed with no insulation. It was cold, it was quite miserable to work and in all honesty. But now we're up to date facilities, everything's nice and secure, all the timber is under racks. It's just lovely to work in. And it just shows a credit to the family that we've. And the effort that we've put in over the years.

So today is a miserable day as we are in the midst of winter now.

I would argue it's getting close, isn't it?

Yeah, absolutely. When would you say is the best time to buy outdoor furniture? is there a best time or is it literally the whole year round?

You can buy furniture all year round.

Now with our products, with the different types of products we do, we've got products for all seasons. So, in the summertime it's your seats, your benches, your seated arbours moving into autumn time and winter. Our garden gates get very popular when people are thinking more about security. We were quite busy before, Halloween and bonfire night with the, you know, more people being about than, that to that work.

Well, I just thought they wanted an extra wood for the bonfire personally, but.

Put their old stuff on there, that's it.

And now, it's, it's revving up for the Christmas period with bird tables. Oh, brilliant. Like, lots of people we have coming to us getting bird tables, either.

Treating themselves or giving the partners an extra nudge to.

They make a great Christmas gift, young and old. they're a good joint gift. So, if you've got. What should I get for Mum and Dad, Granny and Granddad? Yeah, an aunt and an uncle. you can get that one present that fits both of them and is, ah, a good addition to the garden.

Yeah.

often our houses are crammed full of items, so something for the garden that you can enjoy from the warmth of your house in winter is a great.

It's also helping nature as well, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah.

You can. You feel sorry for little birds outside shivering and the birds shiver.

I don't know. Please let us know if anyone knows that.

That's a good question. Well, they look sometimes pretty miserable, don't they, when it's raining?

Oh, yeah. I'd be miserable in this weather out there. so, yeah, looking at when spring starts to roll round, I know I'm guilty of it. As soon as that sun comes out, you start thinking, oh, I should get the garden all tidy so I can go out and enjoy it. But you use those first couple of days or Weeks doing that and having, getting that furniture, ordering it or deciding what you want, ordering it, getting it installed and you've, you've missed out on a couple of weeks of enjoyment of that nice weather as soon as it comes around. So really if people think about doing that in January, February, when we know it's coming, we know we're going to have some kind of nice weather to enjoy. So, if they contacted you at that point and got ahead of the game, they probably wouldn't have to wait as long maybe.

Exactly. Yeah. We do, we do pride ourselves on fast turnaround. But if you already got it then you can use it straight away, can't you?

Absolutely.

We do get people wanting or the bespoke orders. January and February, if they've been planning a garden renovation then January and February, we're quite often building the bespoke things the bit unusual. So, it's installed, it's there so that you can build the rest of your garden around it.

Yeah.

and the wood that you use, that Swedish redwood, isn't it?

That's correct, yeah.

Why is that?

It's slower grown so it's more stable. You get a better finish. If you look at a piece of English pine, you can count with the growth rings in on one hand whereas ours, you take your hands, your toes are your neighbours. Just for the same piece of wood. Yeah, it's so much better quality. It's the highest quality you can get.

And that's where the, the long-lasting durability.

Exactly. Yeah.

It's all tantalised, pressure treated so that makes it resistant to, to rot. You can, should you choose to paint.

It your own colours and yeah stain it whatever colour you want if you wanted. So, it's not. You've got to leave it just be. You just choose.

You can do if you want to.

Exactly. Just choose a colour and crack on.

Yeah. We've had some people paint things some

Unique.

Unique. Yes, yes. I'm m not particularly a pink girl myself but we have had one or two items painted pinks, purples and well there was something I never would have thought.

How important has sustainability become to the business?

More so in recent years just going back to Covid then you realised what resources were available to you and you realise that there's a fact, finite amount and that buying locally is better for, for everybody. You're not unnecessarily, you know causing more carbon emissions, more congestion just by travelling, making things travel about for the sake of it. all of our timbers. Is it FFSC certified?

That's correct.

And then if you come to us and buy from us craft, you can take the item with you. The beer table, for example, come two pieces, the bird tabletop and then the fully assembled stand. they fit into cars. One of our larger beer tables, we fitted it into a smart car before.

It was a bit snug, in all honesty, was snug.

It was the dog that accompanied the man. He didn't have a lot of him, but he, he did fit, and he was a bigger dog. It wasn't a tiny chihuahua. So, by buying a beer table from us, rather than ordering online, you're not having the packaging, the plastic associated with it. and you know, you haven't got other big vans on the road causing pollution, congestion. There's just so many positives and supporting local business.

I would like to just add to that, actually. If you buy from us, we buy from local suppliers.

Yeah.

Which helps them. Which, when people buy from us, we might buy from a company that's employed by them. So, it's all circling ticks. Of course, it goes around all locally and you don't. There's no money going out the area. It all helps each other.

And by local, we're not just thinking of people a mile from us, we're thinking local is 20, 30 miles. if you were to. To come to us, if you live a little further afield, then right on our doorstep, there's, there's lovely pubs, there's lovely cafes, walks, there's, shops and such, like, not too far away. Then once again, by supporting us, you're also supporting the other smaller local businesses around us and having a very nice day out.

Yeah. So, yeah, you're just making it a day out rather than a chore. Yes. People will go online, and they think that that's convenient and easy, but if you turn it around into something that's an enjoyable experience, that's great.

Yeah. Well, and it's not foggy like today. It's a really nice part of the world, isn't it, to have a wander around.

And so, I know where we are, you know where you are, but let's tell everyone where you are.

Yeah. We're in Swettenham in Cheshire, near Congleton.

Really easy to get to as well.

All main road links.

It's perfect and really well signposted.

Yeah. And we've got our big sign at the top of our drive. So, you know where we are, you can, you can find us because we are on A main ish country road. it's got our saw distinctive saw logo. and that's a throwback to where we came from. Our logo features a traditional hand saw with our name and the T's are hammers. And that gives a nod to the craftsmanship and tools that have been at the heart of our business since the early days.

So, with the, the customers that you've had so far, have you had commercial customers as well as residential?

Yes, we do wholesale and retail. Yeah, we do quite a lot of planters for pub chains and pubs nowadays. Which is nice. Like, it just shows you how long lasting, if it'll survive a public environment, how durable our products are. yeah, in fact, we. We did all the furniture for the Sweating of Arms when it refitted two years ago, and the furniture looks perfect.

Still good as it was when it went in.

Yeah.

Great. Yeah.

With our planters, they're all over the country. we supply another small, local.

Business that does refits and they go as far as Isles of White to the Aberdeen. We've sent stuff too, so.

Wow.

So top to bottom, really?

Yeah.

Sometimes we just get the pub's name and quite often pubs have similar names. Say we're out and about, having a short break away, who do we come across? Our planters. We've even seen them on the telly.

Oh, have you? Oh, that's brilliant.

that's it. That's good.

like little children you've put out to the world.

That's correct, yeah. It does give you a little bit of pride, actually.

Yes, it does. And so it should do as well, because there's a lot of heart that goes into the products that you make. I can tell.

And then speaking of things on the telly, we've had one of our benches feature on, Emmerdale.

Oh, wow.

So, that was a.

Which one is it?

Which bench was the economy rustic, wasn't it? So that was. That's one of the original designs.

Have you got. I've seen on TV on that.

No.

Come on.

We don't really watch Emmerdale.

No, you definitely need to make the most of that.

Yeah, we should.

So, did ITV contact you to buy that or did you just end up there?

no, they don't. It was a producer, I think, of the programme that contacted us and sort of says, your product just suits the garden that we need to.

Yeah.

In the show. And the other one.

Wow.

Yeah. They paid for it. We didn't give it to them, no, too right. So, yeah, it was, it was super. It was all exciting.

So, a lot of bespoke requests are, brought to you.

Exactly. Yeah. We did a seat just this last year, actually. A lady was doing a RHS.

Yeah, we're at Gardeners World Live.

We did a seat for that, and the seat was centrepiece. Yeah, the centrepiece of a garden. But it was.

No, we win garden.

Yeah. She actually won first prize, didn't she?

Thinking about, you need another sticker. I'm sorry, you're missing tricks here.

Yeah, that was a totally bespoke.

Yeah, it was like a totally curved seat, which is quite unique for us and it took a little bit of thinking about. So, But, he also had to sit within because she's only got so much room. Yeah, it had to be a certain dimension and that was it. So, yeah, it was.

Well, we called it Straight Curves, didn't we? Because it was more a bit like A. Yeah, 20 pence piece inspired it. Didn't I say? Yeah, but the effect. Oh, it was lovely. And, yeah, winning. We were. We're jumping up and down. We're all so excited.

It's nice when you can share in other people's success when you had a hand in it. And like you say, even though it was her garden that. That won because you provided something there that's gone towards that win. It's kind of just as much your win as well, because it's your product that was there and.

Yeah, and it better. She was another small business. Another small local business. So, yeah, the small business world, it's. It's different than the big companies that seem almost like at war with each other. It's. It's a different community feel, isn't it?

Everyone's not trying to help each other. Don't.

Yeah. Got each other's back. It's, it's. It's nice.

I can understand why people do just go online because it is really easy. But I think if people really put a bit of thought into where the things were coming from, who was behind it, not only are they supporting a local business, they're getting a quality products, but it's that feel good factor as well.

What would you rather have? Would you rather have something that's 20 minutes down the road or would you have something that's shipped from China?

Well, yes, exactly. That starts to rot after a couple of winters.

Exactly.

Yeah. But, yeah, I definitely think if I was to buy a bench from yourselves, that every time I sat in that bench, I'd think of this business and the people behind it. So it's definitely got that extra level of feel. Good. Is there anything weird anyone's ever asked you to do? Yeah. Without giving away any identities?

Don't know. We did that catio, box which was a little bit unique for us.

Yeah.

A catio this, this lady had got new kittens which lived on a main road in Macclesfield and yeah, she wanted this like wire shed sort of.

Oh, okay.

Creating for cats to go in during the day so they could get out, would not come to any harm.

Yeah.

So that was quite interesting.

Good idea.

I was doing the ground feeder with the slide out tray. That was a special item.

Oh yeah, that it was for hedgehogs. Want it and that sort of thing.

Yeah. For the, the ground feeding birds. And yes, I think she did use. It was a multi thing for the birds in the day and the, the hedgehogs at night that they just scratch his heads a little bit. But we, we got it sorted, didn't we? Yeah, we've had weird and wonderful things.

Did you really enjoy that side with the challenge that maybe somebody comes to you and says I want to do this?

I must admit it is more interesting than just the mundane.

Yeah.

Something that makes the old grey cells tick. Yeah.

And anything's possible.

Oh absolutely. I bad. Well, when people could smoke, they used to bring pictures on the back of bag packets and so on. So. So it can be challenging. It's really enjoyable too.

Yeah. The sky's the limit then with what people can have made and you're the people to go to with the like you say, the back of the fag packet idea sketch and you'll make it a reality for them.

We do, we'll try.

Yeah.

With what? We could have another podcast, another. A debate on what bespoke actually means. because yes, we have made bespoke items off the back of fag packets. But then arguably if you're having a gate made to the size you need, that's a standard thing for us. But it's bespoke. Yeah, it's for you. So the width of it can be what you need for your. The gap, the height of it. Again with seats, we do lots of these and the, the summer with the seat height and the width of it, very useful for people with mobility problems so they can enjoy the garden, enjoy outdoors without thinking, oh, I don't think I can face going out there because if I sitting my garden chair I won't get back up well, if you have one made to the seat height you need, it's comfortable for you, you can get out, enjoy your garden, enjoy nature, and we can make that happen for you.

That's really important, especially with. There's a lot of inside products which make those with mobility or additional needs make it easier for them to be in their home. But the garden doesn't really get thought about, does it?

Yeah, that's true with the. Our picnic table, we do an inclusive.

Yeah, we do one. It's got a wheelchair one or you can actually, modified it for pubs that they can use it for prams and that sort of stuff, so they can push children right to the table to. But also for wheelchairs as well. So, it gives everybody accessibility.

Literally the sky is the limit. With what people can have made then.

And with that, picnic table, it doesn't look weird. So, if you're in, if it's there, it's obvious. Screaming out wheelchair people, disabled people, only black. Alan was saying it, it works with, with families with buggies, prams. yeah, it just, it fits, fits in. So they're an excellent addition to, you know, what we do.

So how do people make contact with you if they have, an idea they want to discuss with you or if they just literally want to pop around and see what it is you've got available immediately.

So they're always welcome to come and come to the workshop. Come and see us. We're based in Swetnam. We're on the main east country road, rather than in the dead-end road part of Swetnam, with the big sign with our logo, the distinctive saw logo at the top of our driveway. Give us a ring. We have a business that's based somewhere, so we do have a landline. Telephone number 01260-224-909. The best bit and the worst bit about living in the country is the mirror phone signal. But the landline works very, very well. We've also got a website, www.countryrustics.co.uk and we're on social media. We've got a Facebook page, Instagram page as well, which we're growing. Look out for some of our videos that, will be coming up soon. We got caught out at the weekend.

Last Sunday we were in the workshop doing some planters. No, it wasn't Sunday. It was Saturday thinking about it and our son Solomon came and videoed, us. And then we're doing a voiceover of David Attenborough. Really hilarious. We might just add a little Bit of editing.

Yeah.

Before we put it on Instagram.

So is it literally just Country Rustics on, there?

Yeah, country rustics, yeah. If you want to follow us, please do so. That would be great. And you can also see special offers that we have on bird tables over the Christmas period.

Yeah, we've got lots for under £50 at the moment, so it's an affordable present for friends and family. Or a little treat for yourself if.

Anyone wants to actually come and discuss something with you, contact you beforehand just so that you've got the time, and you can give them the attention to have that discussion.

And often, if they make face contact, give us a little brief outline and then it's, you know, a few hours later or the next day we've had time to think about it and then can best, you know, support them and give the, give the best advice. But we're very approachable so if they.

Could give us a notice over weekend, that'd be great. we do have a small family, so we're trying.

Yeah.

Get out and about a bit.

I don't think you've always got to make an appointment.

Yeah.

If you're passing, just come in and. Right. We live on site as well, so, if we're not in the workshop, it's likely we're in the, in the house. The home office doing social media or the dreaded paperwork companies accompanies the business. We've got CCTV, so we'll spot you and come out to you.

Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today. And yes, if anyone's got any questions, come to you.

Exactly. That'd be great. No, thank you, thank you.