05 Oct MEET OUR NNBN AWARDS FINALISTS – Meet Camille McLean from Bulwick Village Shop
It’s a great honour to be a finalist at any awards ceremony and in the build-up to this year’s NNBN Awards, we caught up with a number of our Finalists to understand more about what they do and how they add value to their clients and our Northamptonshire business community.
Our next feature in the build-up to the NNBN Awards taking place at Kettering Park Hotel & Spa on Friday 6th October is with Camille McLean from Bulwick Village Shop and The Pickled Shop.
Camille is a finalist at this year’s NNBN Awards in the Small Business of the Year category kindly sponsored by the Holiday Inn Express Kettering.
So let’s meet Camille and understand what happens from her Bulwick base in North Northamptonshire.
“I run an award-winning shop and cafe with a difference. Bulwick Village Shop is the ‘small shop with a big welcome’. Serving local customers and tourists, our team offers locally sourced products and special finds from across the country, as well as the ‘essentials’.
Described as a hidden Northamptonshire gem, our breakfasts, lunches, tapas and afternoon teas vie for attention with our idyllic garden terrace views and well-stocked bar!
We’re also known for getting customers ‘pickled’ with The Pickled Village range of chutneys, pickles, jams, originally concocted in my busy kitchen and now sold in the shop, at Waitrose regionally and online at thepickledshop.com.”
How do you add value to people you work with ?
“We love working as a team of equals, acknowledging our strengths and weaknesses and encouraging everyone through in-house training and interesting courses from time to time. We treat each other with respect and as a result there’s goodwill and loyalty. We all share a great sense of humour and enjoy lots of laughter and fun, even during hectic and stressful moments. We also understand that working in a family business, one has to flexible.”
What do you enjoy the most about what you do ?
“I enjoy every single aspect of what I do. Each day I feel blessed that I live in this idyllic village of Bulwick in the tip of Northamptonshire, where I know every single villager. I meet such interesting visitors and customers every day and they each one appreciates the love that goes into the shop and garden terrace offers. The feedback is wonderful, it spurs us on!
I also enjoy offering employment to villagers and now also two Ukrainians who had to flee the conflict in their homeland.”
What was the feeling like when you learned you were a finalist at this year’s NNBN Awards ?
“I whooped and shared with my family and ace team, who also whooped! I immediately asked them to put the event date in their diary so we may all share a special day acknowledging all our hard work.”
What are you mostly looking forward to at the NNBN Awards this year ?
“Sharing the moment with my ace team and my family as well as meeting and learning about all the other businesses in our great county of Northamptonshire. We need to spread the word about the talent and hard work that makes our Northamptonshire businesses something special.”
To learn more about at Bulwick Village Shop, visit their website here.
