Who Am I

I’m Carole.

Before all this, I was a teacher — head of special needs, actually. These days you’re more likely to find me elbow-deep in flour, or catching up with a customer over a cup of tea, than standing in front of a classroom.

I’m a mum first. My daughter is 42 now, and everything you see here really started with wanting something better for her — a place where she, and adults like her, could belong, contribute, and be trusted, rather than overlooked.

I’m also Mark’s wife. He’s very much part of this place too, these days however, he succumbed to Dementia, so we see him little and I’m sad about that. It was our dream after all.

Baking has been part of my family for a long time, and it’s still my favourite part of the day — upcycling old furniture, testing a new tea loaf recipe, or just watching our assistants grow in confidence week by week.

I don’t think of myself as running a business, if I’m honest. I think of myself as someone who gets to watch a group of remarkable adults become more of who they already were — confident, capable, and part of something.

If you want the fuller story of how we got here, it’s over on Our Story. This is just me, saying hello.