Our Story
In a global pandemic,
when shops were legally not allowed to open,
when the future was unclear,
when the business was just a pivot,
I opened a shop.
Hayley Hanson
In March 2020, the kids finished school, and we hunkered down for “ a weeks off”, Great I thought, a few weeks with the kids at home, this will be fine.
Then weeks stretched into months. Oh, this is a thing then.
I absolutely loved having the whole family at home and the extra time, with the kids, and at home myself, it suited me, and it suited the farm, and it made me realise that I didn’t want to do what I was doing anymore, three websites, multiple social media, constantly off from home and saying “hang on sweet heart, i will just reply to this email”, on the road, on the train, shipping globally, getting bigger. So I stopped. Its the best thing I ever did.
I have, as you may well know, another business called Hayley Hanson, we made leather, from our own herd of cattle, high welfare, the worlds only Welsh leather, but we were reassessing how the farm was working, and what our longer term plan was, and for us, cows and calves was were it was at.
That meant no more leather or hides from our own cattle. I love the HH brand, its 100% my 4th child, nursed from an idea to a global brand in 10 years, it was special, was I comfortable making it something else? No, i wasn’t. So Hanson & Co came about, I wanted the name, but for it to be different, similar and familier, but different, a new entity. So here we are Hanson and Co, I have always loved cattle and farming, and the countryside and animals, and outdoors and big skies, and the sea, so Hanson & Co, is essential a retail space full of beautiful things for people like us, hides, sheepskins, pieces for dogs and horses, beautiful goods for making your country home lovely, cosy, and as we would say “cwtchy”.
The “& Co” has come about as I realised last year, I could`nt make everything myself, and I wanted to expand in a certain direction, constantly asked for items for me, the home, and dogs, and needed help to make that happen and supply that need, and my great Grandfathers business was G.S Stephens & Co, and I just always loved the sound of it, it sounded old, established, nice.
So here we are, 2021, on the cusp of opening, welcoming people to our 16th century farm, to our retail space in our walled garden (well, its a garden with a wall anyway!), so come on in, and take a deep inhale of the scent of leather, of natural goodness, sink into a comfy chair and try on your new favorite boots, we cant wait to see you!
In late 2021, we are opening on the farm, a trout fishery, a retirement livery and are busy planting up next years project, a cutting flower garden specialising in unusual, old and rare daffodils, foxgloves, roses, sunflowers and some other surprises too, do follow us on Instagram, to see these lovely projects unfold!