After two decades of travelling the world in the name of science, witnessing first-hand soaring extinction rates and collapsing ecosystems, Sally Gouldstone understands better than most the state of the climate crisis. She’s passionate about passing this knowledge on to others, and determined that above all, Seilich will leave its corner of nature in a better place than when it started.
Read on to discover her story, then shop the Seilich Botanicals Collection from Virgin Experience Days in collaboration with Virgin StartUp.
I spent 20 years working in the nature conservation sector as a research scientist, but after starting a family I felt I wanted to work in a more flexible way so decided to start my own business.
I began by renting a couple of acres of land and using it to establish a wildflower meadow. I also invested in a traditional essential oil still, which enabled me to distil my own essential oils from the plants I was growing in the meadow. From here I was able to start my business making and selling natural skincare products using the botanical extracts I made from my wildflower meadow.
As the meadow matured I also secured a workshop on the same site and started running workshops; teaching people how to create their own meadows, how wildflowers can be used to make botanical extracts, and how to make natural cosmetics from wild plants.
Because of the way I grow my ingredients (organically and within a wider meadow area), we have become the first and only company in the UK to gain Wildlife Friendly Certification. I love that we're able to show our commitment to nature conservation in this way!
People who come out to the meadow on one of our experiences love that they get to spend time outside learning about wildflowers, but that they also get to take a little part of the meadow away with them in the extracts or cosmetics that they make during the day. The workshops are always really chilled, with time set aside for herbal tea breaks amongst the flowers!
On the 'Making Botanical Extracts' workshop, people love seeing how essential oils are made in the traditional copper stills, whereas on the 'Making Cosmetics' workshops people love being able to make their own bespoke products tailored to their skin type to take away with them.
A whole range of people seem to enjoy the workshops, from entire family groups, to hen parties and groups of girl friends, to mother-daughter pairs and individuals who just want a day out of the city!
I'm hoping to expand the size of my meadow from 2 to 10 acres in size in the next few years. This will enable me to not only provide an amazing space for wildlife, but to also scale up production of my skincare products! I also really love teaching others about wildflowers, so I hope to work with community groups to help them to create their own meadows in the future too.
Small businesses don't tend to stay small for long but tend to go one of two ways; without the right support, they tend to dwindle and die - but with the right support they grow to become bigger businesses, employing more people and generally contributing to society.
