ENTREPRENEUR Celia Gaze, best known as the founder of Edgworth’s Wellbeing Farm – made famous by its bow-tie wearing llamas, has turned her hand to a new business venture, the new North West Centre for Business and Team Wellbeing.

The farm had garnered a reputation as one of the region's top wedding venues but the coronavirus crisis has put paid to such events for the time being.

Ms Gaze – a former NHS director - decided to put her lifelong passion for wellbeing to good use and host wellbeing activities for staff from businesses from all over the country.

She said: “Lockdown has been tough for so many businesses.

“The business landscape has hugely changed in a very short period – offices have closed, staff have had to adapt to home working, some staff have been furloughed while others have continued to work. Lockdown has affected everyone’s wellbeing to some extent.”

As such, Ms Gaze began her new project as a series of virtual coffee mornings which, as more and more wellbeing providers from around the county became involved grew into an experience encompassing every aspect of wellbeing.

This now includes a range of events that allows companies to hire the farm, plan strategy days and undertake team building.

Ms Glaze believes that such activities are now more important than ever as businesses work to rebuild as lockdown eases.

She said: “It’s almost that you’ve got to treat those staff who have been working and those staff who have been furloughed, like you are doing a merger and acquisition and start again with a new strategy and culture.

“As we emerge from lockdown it almost feels like in some cases you’ve got to start your business from scratch.”

The centre has also been supported by from Boost Business Lancashire, Lancashire’s Business Growth Hub, and business consultancy Cube Thinking.

Jason Kingston of Cube Thinking, said “What Celia has dynamically developed is an amazing physical platform that provides not only a safe, but the right space that allows providers of wellbeing services to deliver bespoke solutions to clients that match their needs.”

Visit: https://northwestwellbeingcentre.co.uk