The Surrey Hills Enterprises

In the beautiful Fetcham Park House and its grounds on a perfect summer evening, SHE celebrated its 10th year of existence. It is a membership organisation that works in partnership with the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to support local enterprises, develop a thriving rural economy, promote sustainable tourism, increase environmental sustainability, motivate the community to buy local goods, and highlight the special nature of the people and the landscape. It awards The Trade Mark as an accreditation and a mark of quality, local provenance, and sustainability. The mark promises the best of what Surrey has to offer. Membership of SHE has grown almost five-fold over the decade of its existence, to almost 200 and it is proving very successful for its members because of networking, collaboration, and the availability of marketing support, business training, and discounts at events.

Binary Botanical cocktails (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and beer made from breadcrumbs by Crumbs Brewing were on offer plus espresso martinis prepared by Chimney Fire Coffee and Silent Pool. Also, Albury organic sparkling wine was served to accompany canapés made from local produce by Lavender Catering and samosas from Mandira’s kitchen. For dessert there was Moooh! Ice cream.

The Lord Lieutenant of Surrey Michael More-Molyneux welcomed all the guests and congratulated SHE on its decade of successful work for the business life of the county and the Surrey Hills. He later presented Gold Trade Mark Awards to Claire Brown the founder of Plant Passion; Mandira Sarkar of Mandira’s Kitchen and Martin Bamford of Bear Content, a production agency.

At the end of the evening, the High Sheriff thanked the members and Sandra and Malcolm Young for their kind hospitality and proposed the toast to SHE.

Sincere thanks for a delightful evening go to Simon Whalley the Chairman, Wendy Varcoe MBE the Executive Director, and Peter Martin, Director.

(The Surrey Hills Artisan Trail is a free self-guided trail that showcases the best of Surrey Hills food, drink, arts and crafts. Surreyhills.org/artisantrail).