Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare blog

At the heart of every Liz Earle product are the best botanical ingredients. We do an enormous amount of research to ensure that you get fantastic products you can trust. This research takes us to fields, libraries, laboratories and kitchen tables around the globe. And on these travels we have built strong relationships with suppliers, exchanging knowledge, the latest research and a lot of laughter. I’d like to take you back to James Lambe (we first shared a visit to James in our 2007 Autumn newsletter), just one of our inspiring suppliers, he brings great naturally active ingredients and ideas from the fields of his farm to the bottle on your bathroom shelf.

James and his wife Emma supply us with (among other things) echinacea, which we use in our Skin Repair Moisturisers, Nourishing Botanical Body Cream and Hand Repair.  They gave up life in London to farm in Ross-on-Wye in 1977. Growing and processing herbs at Castle Farm since 1980, the Lambes have defied convention, with Emma running the farm and James shepherding Blue Sky Botanics, the extracting business that grew out of processing herbs. Although he’s fond of playing down his reputation as one of Europe’s leading lights when it comes to herbs (he was the founding President of the European Herb Growers Association, and Treasurer of the British Herb Trade Association), there is no disguising James’ passion for the environment, people, herbs and extracts. I’ve asked James a few questions to find out more …

1. How did you and Emma get started growing herbs?
During the late 1970s Emma was growing a field of flowers for drying. This news spread locally and in 1980 we were asked to grow some fresh parsley to be used in Marks & Spencer Chicken Kiev. From this first enquiry we expanded the business to supply fresh herbs to the ready meal industry.

2. When did you convert Castle Farm to organic and why?
When we acquired Castle Farm a large part of it had been farmed in a traditional way without the use of herbicides and pesticides. The flora and fauna on that part of the farm were more diverse and numerous than on the areas that had been farmed using chemicals.  As a passionate naturalist, Emma quickly decided that the whole farm should become organic. It was first certified organic in 1986 by the Soil Association, and soon after, the farm won the Silver Lapwing national award for wildlife conservation and commercial farming.

3. How did growing herbs lead to extracting them?
As our herb growing business expanded we continually researched the market and the properties of various herbs.  I also became involved with other European herb growers and this led to a fascination in the techniques of extraction which capture the essence of plants.

4. Why is traceability so important to you?
Full traceability of our raw material is an essential legal requirement for any business like ours but we have a strong interest in understanding the origin of all our herbs. For those herbs that we don’t grow and dry on the farm we like to know the exact farm or wild area where they have been grown; this is best achieved by using certified organic or fairtrade herbs.

5. What values do Blue Sky Botanics and Liz Earle Beauty Co. share?
Both companies care passionately about the power of plants to enhance people’s lives. We also believe that to bring these benefits to the public, plants should be grown and processed in ethically acceptable and sustainable ways. Blue Sky’s commitment to biodiversity and green chemistry allow both companies to achieve these goals.

So each and every time you use any of our Skin Repair moisturisers, Nourishing Botanical Body Cream or our Hand Repair, you can have confidence in the quality of the echinacea extract we’ve used. After all, from seedling to extract it only makes a journey of 100 metres, and all under the watchful eye of the Lambes.