Dear Reader,
In light of the ongoing Covid-19 matter, it has been so lovely that many of you have kept visiting the farm, showing true Northern grit and tenacity. However, we are in unprecedented times, so we would like to reassure you that as a ‘5-Star food hygiene’ rated establishment, we always take hygiene incredibly seriously. The safety, health and wellbeing of our couples and their guests and our staff is our absolute priority.
Using my background NHS experience in working in hospitals, I have developed a very comprehensive Coronavirus Action Plan for the farm and undertaken staff briefings with our employees to further increase our hygiene standards. I am personally constantly monitoring Government guidance for upcoming news and information. Weddings are seen by the Government as a private event and at present, we have no plans to cancel any weddings and events.
Staff have been advised to stay away from work if they have the slightest concern they may have come into contact with someone who has the virus, may have the virus, or are themselves exhibiting cold or flu-like symptoms.
We have increased our daily cleaning and sanitising high touch surfaces such as door handles throughout the day and have disinfectant wipes and sanitiser for customer use for your further peace of mind together with increased NHS ‘Catch It, Bin It, Kill It’ signage.
Although our staff have always worn white gloves during food service, I have instructed staff to wear white latex gloves during bar service and in particular when collecting dirty glasses.
It goes without saying that our kitchen maintains the highest standards of hygiene, we were recently awarded 5 stars by the Environmental Health Officer, but we have increased cleaning and sanitising throughout the day.
I consider our venue to be less risky due to the exclusive nature of our venue (we don’t have several functions going on at the same time, members of the public wandering in and out at their leisure and other people staying in accommodation. We are also an open venue with lots of fresh air and not reliant on air conditioning.
New developments we have put in place for you:
Livestreaming: I spoke to Simon from Creative Camera videography about the concept of live streaming and could this be used for those elderly or immunocompromised guests unable to travel (or worried about travelling)…. ???
As a response we are now offering a FREE live streaming service for your wedding – please watch the video below which will explain everything. You will need to nominate someone among your guests to operate the camera for you e.g. a groomsman (unless you’ve booked a professional videographer of course) and also obtain the Periscope app via a phone… We will provide all the equipment (microphone, tripod, connector) to hopefully enable your relatives worried or unable to travel, to somehow be involved in your special day.
I know it’s not the same as someone being physically present, but I do hope some of you may find this helpful and I’d welcome any feedback on this new service.
Online meetings: We are also conscious that some of you during your wedding planning, may have to self-isolate but still want to continue with your wedding planning. As a result. we are now as an alternative to face to face meetings (where you come to the farm), the option for having meetings online via zoom (https://zoom.us/) or Facetime and you can select which you would prefer when you book your meetings through https://thewellbeingfarm.youcanbook.me/ .
How you can help too:
It would be helpful if you can let us know if you’d like to use our new live streaming service for your wedding during your planning meetings with our Coordinators. This will involve ensuring that the phone you use has a good signal at the farm …
Also if you can make sure your guests and suppliers have not visited any infected countries or if they are showing symptoms of Covid-19, adhere to self-quarantine regulations.
If you’ve made a reservation and you’re not feeling up to it, we’d really appreciate it if you could let us know so we can cancel, reschedule or you could move to an online alternative as described above. As a small business your support, now more than ever is appreciated.
We hope to see many of you soon and hopefully, this email reassures you that we are doing everything we can to ensure that your health and enjoyment is absolutely at the heart of everything we do.
Warmest Wishes,
Celia Gaze, MBA
