So what next..?

Well let’s start with our back story shall we?

Kristin and I are both from Cheshire and have lived there all of our lives. When we first started ‘dating’, our first holiday was a camping trip to Waterside Farm on the shores of Ullswater. Ever since then we’ve been coming back to the Lakes in all sorts of weather at different times of the year and our love for the place has only grown.

I (Mark) am a commercial photographer and have spent most of my life working for creative agencies, specialising in documenting people at work and working on marketing campaigns. If you’re interested, here’s my website, markwilliamsonphotography.com

Kristin used to be an event planner and her speciality was marquee weddings and parties, which she was (and still is) brilliant at. With the view to spending more time with our children, we decided to call time on the weekend wedding work. This all coincided with our move to the Lake District (and a certain pandemic, that brought my work to a grinding halt), so 2021 was a pretty crazy year. We bought a 17th century, grade II listed mill with the view to offering some form of holiday accommodation to help suppliment our struggling incomes, but more importantly to raise our children in a more outdoor, natural environment.

The transition wasn’t totally smooth. We had planned to do this before they had started secondary education, but the first few months were hard work. My photography work was still really struggling, Kristin was on her third job in 12 months and our eldest was not enjoying her new school. Dreams don’t just land on your lap and we knew we had some work to do.