Damian’s Blog – Working Life in Sedbergh

I moved to Cautley, just along from Sedbergh, in 2017 to set up a second business with my wife, but my priority was to remain working full time in the Architecture practice I have been running with my business partner for 19 years. This has meant working from a home office and visiting the Leicester office one day a week.

Friends sometimes think we live in the middle of nowhere being situated amongst the hills of the Howgill Fells and having no take away deliveries, but let’s face it, if we were so remote, how could my wife and I run three businesses between us here. It is possible to have the best of both worlds. To live in the most breathtaking landscapes and having a functioning business office.

Sedbergh is 10 minutes from the motorway and Kendal is only a 20 minute drive away. The A1 is an hour’s drive and with all of these routes, I can get around the UK easily, which is vital as I also have to visit projects on sites throughout the country. Even in the snows of the ‘Beast from the East’, the roads through Sedbergh were gritted and we were able to get out and about.
Our internet connection is sufficient in that I can transfer files and we had our website branding designed via Skype calls when we first moved here without any problems. With the imminent arrival of ‘B4RN’, Broadband for the Rural North, our internet connection is going to be moving to fibre with amazing speeds as experienced in other nearby villages that have connected using the BARN scheme.

Whilst our neighbours may not be right next door to us, the community here has been so welcoming and to be honest, we were pleasantly shocked at the number of entrepreneurial businesses operating from what we thought might be a sleepy little book town. The phrase to not judge a book by the cover springs to mind. These are businesses that are active on social media, help each other out and are winning awards, so it is very inspiring to be a part of working life here.

The pace is different, but in a great way. People enjoy life and the outdoors here and family and friends are just as important as winning that contract. I have no regrets about moving to Sedbergh, my business has not suffered in the slightest and I can honestly recommend working life in the countryside. It’s very good for the soul.

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