When you ring the office to order your seed mixtures the first person you’re likely to speak to is Sales Administrator Lizzie Arnold. It’s also Lizzie you’ll meet face-to-face when Cotswolds Seeds are out and about at various agricultural events.
Lizzie joined Cotswold Seeds in 2014, having previously worked in customer services for an IT publications company in Yorkshire. But she was always drawn to a role in land management and the agriculture industry, having inherited her father’s love of farming and the outdoors - he is now working as a forrester in Warwickshire.
When Lizzie left Yorkshire to move back nearer to home she saw the role advertised at Cotswold Seeds and says she thought it was ‘perfect’ for her. She arrived with a pup named Dipstick, who is now a regular in the office.
In peak sowing season, Lizzie will take up to forty calls a day from farmers wanting advice on seed mixtures, but at quieter times of the year she likes to take the chance to get out of the office and meet people, and has taken charge of organising our participation at events. These have included the Oxford Real Farming Conference, NSA Event and Grassland & Muck. Lizzie is involved in organising the itinerary, liaising with our designer to produce banners and working out the logistics of moving sheep, tractors and drills as well as putting together goodie bags of seeds and sweets, focusing on the hand ‘pick and mix’ theme of our bespoke seed mixtures.
She works closely with MD Ian and techinical advisors Sam and Paul who often give workshops and demonstrations. At the NSA event, for instance, they focused on how overseeding is a cheap, simple and effective way to rejuvenate tired grassland and make it more productive and warehouseman Macca came along with his Dad and some of his Sands Texel Sheep which also attracted much attention.
'It's great to welcome customers, old and new, to our stands,' Lizzie says. ‘I love everything about my job. Talking to people on the phone and planning events and then seeing them happen and meeting people-face-to-face… watching things grow.’
