James Strawbridge

James Strawbridge came to our attention back in 2006 when cameras followed his Dad, Dick Strawbridge and family as they setup their own off grid small holding in the BBC 2 series It's Not Easy Being Green  focusing on how to live an environmentally friendly, low impact life.

James now lives in Cornwall with his young family. Digging the earth and growing much of their own food which both keeps him fit and healthy and has enabled him to learn about sustainability and self-sufficiency on a practical level.

In 2012 James co-founded the PoshPasty Company ™ and now spends all the time when he isn’t filming or writing making gourmet pasties and preserves.

Having been living the green life for many years, he is a true sustainable living expert.   This is why we wanted to dig a little beneath the surface to find out what makes him tick…

What would your dream world look like?

'Living the dream' is a phrase that you hear thrown around the place when people are in a particularly good mood or often whilst they're on holiday. At points many of us feel that we have glimpses of what life is really about - family, sunshine, music, relaxing, and being outdoors. I am lucky enough to say that at the moment I'm living my dream. I have a lovely family; my wife Holly and two beautiful children Indiana and Pippin, I live near the sea on the banks of the river Fowey in Cornwall and have great routine of rowing and sailing, I eat well and have an honest pasty making job on an eco- farm. It all sounds too good to be true and sometimes I do pinch myself but my dad told me that "you make your own luck" and I've worked really hard. I think that my idea of a dream world is real as long as you don't want too much. For me the grass isn't greener on the other side - I like my small garden and appreciate the view from it.

If you choose to get involved in your local community you will make friends, if you choose seasonal food you can eat well, if you spend time outside then you will have a healthy glow and feel happier, if you want to live the dream then yes, love dreaming - but make your ideals come true one small step at a time.

In my dream world people who have always wanted to travel could start with weekend walks on coastal paths and then follow their feet on towards bigger  adventures. People who want to run their own restaurant could start with feeding their neighbours at an open BBQ. People who call themselves dreamers could wake up and live it one reality at a time...

Who would be your perfect dinner guest ?

My perfect dinner guest would be Herman Hesse - if I spoke German... He is my favourite writer and I've read every single thing he's written. I'd love to see if we got on and get a slice of advice. I'd cook a trio of German sausages with homemade sauerkraut served with a chilled bottle of Gewürztraminer. Plus I'd make sure we had some gypsy jazz playing to capture the sense of his time.

What is your favourite book?

Knulp by Herman Hesse

Best way to relax?

Gig rowing (Cornish rowing at sea in big wooden boats with a crew of six) for me this clears my head of everything but the oar, timing and waves of water. It might not be physically relaxing but for me it calms my mind.

Your perfect supper?

The next one.

Your ultimate album of 7 songs?

Empires made of Sand - Charlotte Strawbridge

Coope Boyes & Simpson - Jerusalem revisited

And Brun - Changing of the Seasons

Eddie Vedder - Society

Jaques Brel - Amsterdam

The Outlaws - Green Grass and high tides

Rodriguez - crucify your mind

Featured Seller - Cyril's Soap Shed

How did you get started -  Cyril’s Soap Shed came about pretty much by accident! I gave up my full time job to start a family in 2006. We were already on the road to self suffiency with our chickens and vegetable gardens, and so we decided to get a goat for milk. We decided on one goat, however to cut a long story, we came back from the local activity farm with 2 goats. Penny and Florence. The following year they kidded and started producing LOTS of milk, despite me not taking the kids away from mum, they were still providing us with over 8 pints a day!

I spent my days making milk puddings, whey cakes and learning how to make cheese. All this was helping to use the milk, but I needed to find something else. After a bit of research I discovered that Goats Milk Soap was becoming increasingly popular due to the fantastic skin loving qualities that the goats milk had. So I set about learning how to make soap! I quickly learnt that I wanted to do it ‘properly’ and from scratch, and that the Cold Process method, although more time consuming, would produce the best soaps. We only use ethically sourced base oils, and while these cant be 'local' (We use Olive, Coconut, Cocoa Butter and sustainable palm, as we feel these oils make the best soap for us) to The New Forest, or even England, we source from small reputable companies. Our Essential Oils for the Fragrance we use a local company, and the herbs we use are either grown in our garden, or come from the New Forest.

After I thought I had perfected my recipe and method I gave some to friends and family who were so impressed they thought I should sell it. After getting my safety assessment I booked a stall at the local market. The soaps were really popular, and I had many people come back again, saying how the soaps had helped their skin, especially eczema sufferers. That is the nicest part I think! Knowing that the soaps had been able to help someone. I always let the goats know too! Every nice email I get I read to the goats, as it is their milk which is the magic ingrediant!!

I also needed a name for the company. Thats where Cyril comes into it! Cyril was my Grandad, who had a shed at the bottom of the field. The shed was the hub of the local community for all the old folk! Many a day they would be sat in the ‘shed’ putting the world to rights (normally while drinking his homemade ‘scrumpy’!) When Grandad moved on to the great shed in the sky, his shed down here became a bit worse for wear. When the time came for myself and husband to have our own home, we decided to resurrect the old shed. So we built our log cabin home on the same spot.

Things have moved on since the first days of ‘Cyril’s Soap Shed’. Instead of just one or two markets a month, we now do anything up to ten events a week, including New Forest Producer markets, County shows and various events going on around us. The markets and shows have led to us being ‘seen’ and approached by various other business’. This led to us supplying an ever growing range of farm shops, gift shops and local village stores, mainly in and around the New Forest, but we can go as far and wide as anyone wants! We currently have around 16 stockists, and supply 8 hotels and guest houses with guest bars.

Person you most admire - My Husband!! It may sound not very adventerous, but he is a true inspiration to me. He works so hard holding down a full time job with different shift patterns, he helps me by cutting all the paper needed for wrapping, does most of the labelling and he is my top seller! He even does markets etc after a night shift at work! On top of that he does most of the small holding maintenance, looks after the veggies, and is a brilliant Dad! I just love his energy.

What you like to listen to - I spend most of my days in my kitchen making soaps with Essential Oils, which quite often varies my mood, which varies which music i Listen to! I quite like Country and folk music, Ruth Moody is a favourite, Alison Krauss, Patsy Cline, The Lumineers, Mumford and Sons, Pink Floyd, Led Zep and Fleetwood Mac are all on my 'Soaping playlist' too!

Favourite Item of Clothing - My crocs!! I live in my crocs. Being on my feet all day I need something comfortable, and I hate wearing anything tight on my feet.

Favourite Drink - Cup of tea!

Ideal evening - Warm summers evening riding my horse in the forest.

Perfect holiday - Any!! With the goats which need milking daily, and all of our other animals, holidays are virtually impossible. However if we could go away, we would do a King Arthur trail around Britain, and visit all the sites that are connected to King Arthur.