Standing at the front of Claire and Jonathan Williams’ home in Tinahealy, the view is idyllic. The hills and meadows of their farm stretch in front of the house, and after a long drive, I take a deep breath and savour the fresh air and silence. Like so many things in life, from the outside looking in, things look great. No wonder Claire has set up a gorgeous natural skincare range surrounded by such beauty and peace.
But when you scratch the surface, there is often a different story to tell, and that is exactly what transpired as Claire opens up and gets real about the journey that led her from scientist to beauty entrepreneur, creating her skincare range, Meadows.
“It all started really when I became a mammy,” says Claire. “Motherhood didn’t really turn out how I expected it to be. Dylan was a colicky baby and was always getting sick. Nothing serious but we were in and out to the GP or the hospital every few weeks. On top of that, I was lonely.”
From the minute you start talking to Claire, she is bubbly, enthusiastic and outgoing, with a clear spirit of adventure as her eyes light up speaking about her years living in America. It’s apparent she is an extrovert at heart.
“I did a science degree in Maynooth and after two summers away on our J1, a gang of us moved over there to really give things a go. I was five years in the States on Nantucket Island and Cape Cod working as a kindergarten teacher as well as teaching science in summer camps, winter camps and afterschool education. Life was all about the outdoors. I used to swim a mile before school in the mornings and had plenty of friends.”
Home is where the heart is
She couldn’t ignore the call home though and it wasn’t long after returning to Thurles when she first met Jonathan, a dairy farmer from Wexford.
“I’m from a tillage farm in Tipperary. I’m not naïve, I knew how things would go. From early days in our relationship, I knew that if things got serious with Johnnie, we’d be going where the cows were; his family farm in Wexford. And I was quite happy with that.
“When we eventually did build our home together, I was delighted. It wasn’t a million miles from Tipperary so I could go back and forth to see my family and friends and I got a job in Bray. Even though it was an hour and a half drive each way, I just got on with it. Plenty of people do it and Johnnie was so busy with the farm that often I would get home before him in the evenings.”
Claire says the thought of motherhood didn’t phase her and she couldn’t wait to be a mammy.
“The reality though was that I felt lonely and isolated and very far away from everybody. There was nearly two months there where I barely left the house because Dylan was sick and I didn’t have the energy. And even though mental health is talked about much more now, there is still a taboo. I needed anti-depressants to get me back on track again and I thought once I got back to work I would be fine.”
Road to recovery
However, the return to work was overwhelming and the commute was too much with a small baby.
“Things started folding in on me and I had to take leave from work. There were mornings when I would drop Dylan at the crêche and just get back into bed.”
Claire says her road to recovery was long and it didn’t happen overnight. However, it was on a much-needed day out with a friend in Wells House and Gardens to a do a skincare workshop that things started to turn around.
“I was a bit stronger and better at that point, and really enjoyed it so I started tinkering around with a few recipes at home, making lip balms and skin creams. Johnnie has eczema and psoriasis and Dylan has a bit of eczema too and they were finding that the creams were helping. So I started making a few things for family and friends. It was a nice distraction, something that appealed to that science side of me. I had also done diplomas in holistic massage, reflexology and sports injuries rehabilitationwhich were coming into play.”
What Claire didn’t realise though was the reaction she would get. “People were coming back saying: ‘Claire, this stuff is fabulous’, and then I started getting phone calls from farmers wives in the area saying their child had eczema and could they get some of my creams. So I was making product for them but it all came with a warning – I was making it in my kitchen, I wasn’t certified and they couldn’t sue me,” she laughed.
She recommends her baby massage oil or nourishing hand balm for eczema.
With every phone call though, Claire was feeling stronger, more herself, more independent.
“I realised I could be on to something here so I started the road to getting qualified and obtaining EU regulation. I also started expanding the range, which now includes cleansing face oil, face serum, face cream, lip, hand and foot balm, body scrub and a pillow mist.
“All the products are 100% natural and include oils, butters and herbs, with some ingredients coming from the farm. It was really important to me that there were no parabens, chemicals or fragrances but the natural ingredients still give them a lovely smell.
“I took things one step at a time and got support from the local enterprise board.
“In the early days, I had called the product ‘Clara Belle’ and all the packaging was pink but I got involved in focus groups that told me they didn’t trust it – the name, the colour. What they did trust was my story and the fact it was made on a farm. They kept saying a farm is fresh, pure and organic. In my head, I was saying: ‘A farm is muck and dirt’, But they saw the lifestyle element of farming – the tweed and Dubarry boots – and who was I to argue with them?”
More market research came in the form of the Bull Ring Market in Wexford where Claire set up a stall for a year, but it was in 2017 when Dylan was four that she registered as a business and began knocking on doors.
“I used to drop Dylan at school and get in the car and go to shops across the east coast asking them to stock my product. I’m now in 29 shops on the east coast, including Powescourt Design, the Farm Shop in Tinahealy and George & Milly in Castledermot, who are my bestsellers now.
“We are now building a workshop on the farm and if this Christmas is as busy as the one just gone, I will have to employ someone.
“If someone told me in that first year of motherhood when I was so down that I would be running my own skincare business four years later, I wouldn’t have believed them. It definitely took a long time but I kept at it, at my own pace. I went from a three-hour commute to a business on our farm and I’m a happier mammy and wife as a result.”
For a full list of stockists and to buy online, see click here.
Standing at the front of Claire and Jonathan Williams’ home in Tinahealy, the view is idyllic. The hills and meadows of their farm stretch in front of the house, and after a long drive, I take a deep breath and savour the fresh air and silence. Like so many things in life, from the outside looking in, things look great. No wonder Claire has set up a gorgeous natural skincare range surrounded by such beauty and peace.
But when you scratch the surface, there is often a different story to tell, and that is exactly what transpired as Claire opens up and gets real about the journey that led her from scientist to beauty entrepreneur, creating her skincare range, Meadows.
“It all started really when I became a mammy,” says Claire. “Motherhood didn’t really turn out how I expected it to be. Dylan was a colicky baby and was always getting sick. Nothing serious but we were in and out to the GP or the hospital every few weeks. On top of that, I was lonely.”
From the minute you start talking to Claire, she is bubbly, enthusiastic and outgoing, with a clear spirit of adventure as her eyes light up speaking about her years living in America. It’s apparent she is an extrovert at heart.
“I did a science degree in Maynooth and after two summers away on our J1, a gang of us moved over there to really give things a go. I was five years in the States on Nantucket Island and Cape Cod working as a kindergarten teacher as well as teaching science in summer camps, winter camps and afterschool education. Life was all about the outdoors. I used to swim a mile before school in the mornings and had plenty of friends.”
Home is where the heart is
She couldn’t ignore the call home though and it wasn’t long after returning to Thurles when she first met Jonathan, a dairy farmer from Wexford.
“I’m from a tillage farm in Tipperary. I’m not naïve, I knew how things would go. From early days in our relationship, I knew that if things got serious with Johnnie, we’d be going where the cows were; his family farm in Wexford. And I was quite happy with that.
“When we eventually did build our home together, I was delighted. It wasn’t a million miles from Tipperary so I could go back and forth to see my family and friends and I got a job in Bray. Even though it was an hour and a half drive each way, I just got on with it. Plenty of people do it and Johnnie was so busy with the farm that often I would get home before him in the evenings.”
Claire says the thought of motherhood didn’t phase her and she couldn’t wait to be a mammy.
“The reality though was that I felt lonely and isolated and very far away from everybody. There was nearly two months there where I barely left the house because Dylan was sick and I didn’t have the energy. And even though mental health is talked about much more now, there is still a taboo. I needed anti-depressants to get me back on track again and I thought once I got back to work I would be fine.”
Road to recovery
However, the return to work was overwhelming and the commute was too much with a small baby.
“Things started folding in on me and I had to take leave from work. There were mornings when I would drop Dylan at the crêche and just get back into bed.”
Claire says her road to recovery was long and it didn’t happen overnight. However, it was on a much-needed day out with a friend in Wells House and Gardens to a do a skincare workshop that things started to turn around.
“I was a bit stronger and better at that point, and really enjoyed it so I started tinkering around with a few recipes at home, making lip balms and skin creams. Johnnie has eczema and psoriasis and Dylan has a bit of eczema too and they were finding that the creams were helping. So I started making a few things for family and friends. It was a nice distraction, something that appealed to that science side of me. I had also done diplomas in holistic massage, reflexology and sports injuries rehabilitationwhich were coming into play.”
What Claire didn’t realise though was the reaction she would get. “People were coming back saying: ‘Claire, this stuff is fabulous’, and then I started getting phone calls from farmers wives in the area saying their child had eczema and could they get some of my creams. So I was making product for them but it all came with a warning – I was making it in my kitchen, I wasn’t certified and they couldn’t sue me,” she laughed.
She recommends her baby massage oil or nourishing hand balm for eczema.
With every phone call though, Claire was feeling stronger, more herself, more independent.
“I realised I could be on to something here so I started the road to getting qualified and obtaining EU regulation. I also started expanding the range, which now includes cleansing face oil, face serum, face cream, lip, hand and foot balm, body scrub and a pillow mist.
“All the products are 100% natural and include oils, butters and herbs, with some ingredients coming from the farm. It was really important to me that there were no parabens, chemicals or fragrances but the natural ingredients still give them a lovely smell.
“I took things one step at a time and got support from the local enterprise board.
“In the early days, I had called the product ‘Clara Belle’ and all the packaging was pink but I got involved in focus groups that told me they didn’t trust it – the name, the colour. What they did trust was my story and the fact it was made on a farm. They kept saying a farm is fresh, pure and organic. In my head, I was saying: ‘A farm is muck and dirt’, But they saw the lifestyle element of farming – the tweed and Dubarry boots – and who was I to argue with them?”
More market research came in the form of the Bull Ring Market in Wexford where Claire set up a stall for a year, but it was in 2017 when Dylan was four that she registered as a business and began knocking on doors.
“I used to drop Dylan at school and get in the car and go to shops across the east coast asking them to stock my product. I’m now in 29 shops on the east coast, including Powescourt Design, the Farm Shop in Tinahealy and George & Milly in Castledermot, who are my bestsellers now.
“We are now building a workshop on the farm and if this Christmas is as busy as the one just gone, I will have to employ someone.
“If someone told me in that first year of motherhood when I was so down that I would be running my own skincare business four years later, I wouldn’t have believed them. It definitely took a long time but I kept at it, at my own pace. I went from a three-hour commute to a business on our farm and I’m a happier mammy and wife as a result.”
For a full list of stockists and to buy online, see click here.
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