Sharpham People

Daniel Stokes

Chair of Trustees

Daniel was born in Bath. He has had a 25-year business career as joint founder, and (for 15 years) chair of a large regional food retailer. He was also a director of a commercial property development company for 12 years, retiring from business in 2004. He has worked for The Samaritans for four years and has worked for a national bereavement charity for several years, supporting people through their grief.

Daniel is a father-of-three and his interests include poetry and the natural world.

William Lana

Trustee

After working in The City and on Wall Street in the 1980s and for the Commission of the EU in Brussels in the 1990s, William Lana co-founded and is the CEO of the organic textile company Greenfibres. He sits on a number of the Boards of organisations aimed at finding environmental and social solutions to the challenges and opportunities we currently face.

He has degrees from the University of Kent and the London School of Economics, lives in Totnes, has two children, and is a practising artist.

Martin Wright

Trustee

Born in London and educated in the Midlands, Martin spent 20 years living in East London and working as a solicitor in The City, for the last 10 years as a partner in a major law firm. Moving to Devon in 2002 he now runs a smallholding near Totnes with his partner and when not occupied by this, spends his time walking, climbing and travelling with his family.

Charlotte Rathbone

Trustee

Charlotte is a chartered landscape architect who brings 30 years' experience in landscape design and environmental art to the Sharpham board of Trustees.

She has worked as a practising landscape architect in Bristol, Bath, Hong Kong and Devon. She and her husband have had their own practice in South Devon since 1996.

Charlotte's work has included designing new public and private spaces in historic rural and urban landscapes, working with communities to create new village spaces, new town gardens and squares and designing landscape for patients and vulnerable women at a refuge.

She was a trustee of the Centre of Contemporary Art in the Natural World for over 10 years until it became a CIC and has continued as an adviser since then. She wants to encourage the public to engage with the natural world, whether though art, play, science or having fun.

Dr Julie Richardson

Deputy Chair of Trustees

Julie previously worked at Schumacher College on the Dartington Estate, as Senior Lecturer in New Economics where she co-designed and led courses in economics for transition, right livelihood, gross national happiness and dialogues east and west.  

She is many things – an Alumni Research Fellow at University of Plymouth, an ecological economist, a practising meditator, an academic, an educator, an organisational consultant on a national and global scale, a holistic health practitioner and a lover of the sea and nature.

She worked in sustainable development for more than 20 years in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe, gradually altering her view of ‘development’ to a belief that there is much we can learn from the wisdom of other cultures about sustainable livelihoods and restoring healthy relationship between human society and nature.

She has taught ecological economics and international development at the Universities of London and Sussex,

Julie has applied systems thinking, complexity science and a holistic view to different aspects of sustainability – including sustainable design, organizational change and environmental policy.

More recently, at Dartington’s Schumacher College, she co-created the Schumacher Worldwide programme supporting the emergence of an international community of practitioners and programmes inspired by the economist EF Schumacher.

Jane Sillis

Trustee

Jane Sillis has worked in the arts since the 1980s and has a particular knowledge of contemporary visual art, education and working with adults and young people new to the arts. Since 2005 Jane has been Director of Engage.  Before working with Engage Jane was an arts consultant. 

Eve Annecke

Trustee

Ecologist, teacher, writer

www.eveannecke.net

​I am a Bertha Fellow, curating an independent inquiry exploring the art and power in retreat.

​Through transformative and transgressive learning, I’m completely riveted about what it means to be human in this century. Inseparable from nature, place and children, the work has led me into inter-generational stories in a messily indigenous homebrew of context, dialogue, ecology in place, arts, cultures, mythology and consciousness.

​Being of earth, and South Africa and England specifically, holds tensions and contradictions that challenge every platitude, derivative and regurgitation. It is these edges that beckon in finding our ancient mythic ground. In quiet, often unseen, places lurks wisps of wisdom and tendrils of depth, time and space.

​I’m interested in that.

Julian Carnell

Director

Julian has led The Trust since 2014 during which the charity has greatly expanded it's activities.

Originally a teacher he worked for two years with Voluntary Service Overseas in Pakistan helping to set up a teacher training programme and various development projects. On returning to Devon he continued his work in the charity sector working for a local countryside trust, setting up an educational programme, a residential centre, and an organic farm. He was involved in the early stages of Transition Towns in Totnes and has built on these experiences at Sharpham.

"I came to Sharpham because I wanted to integrate conservation work with mental health and the spirituality side that was often missing when environmental issues are discussed. I wanted to foster a more holistic approach and make Sharpham a beacon for new approaches."

Julian loves canoeing on the River Dart which meanders past the Estate and he is Chair of the Dart Estuary Forum and the River Dart Catchment Partnership.

“Sharpham is a special place that people fall in love with and I am privileged to have a brilliant staff team who work hard to create the Sharpham experience, which is one of caring and nurturing the individual and our environment."

"The positive feedback and stories people share with us make it all worthwhile.”

Ben Ballard

Programme Manager

Ben oversees the Sharpham programme of retreats and courses across the estate.

Says Ben: "We live in a time of disconnection socially, environmentally and spiritually. Our programmes support people to reconnect through mindfulness and spending time with nature."

"It’s a privilege and an inspiration to work in an organisation that endeavours to support people to live a more compassionate and awake life."

Amy Ruewell

HR & Admin Manager

Amy's is the voice you'll hear when you ring the Trust's general number.

She makes sure the Trust runs efficiently, thanks to her many years in hospitality and hotels, where she was a general manager.

Now she's happy to have a more peaceful day-job. "I want to make a difference and work as part of a team, and I've found it," she said. "It's beautiful here and everyone's so friendly."

Amy also administers Sharpham Meadow Natural Burial Ground.

Sara Widdicombe

Finance Officer

Sara makes sure that Sharpham's finances are all in order. When she's not doing the numbers, she's playing tennis and walking her dog!

She likes Sharpham's landscape. "It's such a beautiful location, what's not to like?!" she says.

Caroline Forcer

Marketing Manager

Caroline works with Katie on all our marketing and communications, making sure we tell as many people as possible about Sharpham's magic. 

When she began working at Sharpham she promised herself never to take the view for granted. "I pause for a moment every day on my drive onto the Estate to note the view. It changes every day depending on the tide and time of year."

Katie Tokus

Communications Officer

Katie helps to make sure this website looks and sounds good, writes and sends our newsletter, talks to the media (and sings jazz, soul & blues outside of Sharpham).

What inspires her about Sharpham? The birdsong and the food. Especially when the staff get leftovers.

Click here to find out how to get in touch with her, and other parts of the The Sharpham Trust.

Margot Eliadis

Programme Administrator

Margot helps people book onto the events, retreats and courses that we run. She’s also the contact for hiring our venue and for booking at our Point Field campsite (open seasonally).

"Driving onto the estate every day is such a blessing” says Margot. “Sharpham is a beautiful place to work and we have the best team.”

Bryony Middleton

Head Gardener

Bryony co-manages the gardens with Emily Ings and is particularly responsible for the incredible productivity (and look!) of the Walled Garden and our Grade II-listed Percy Cane gardens.

Her vegetable & herb-growing abilities ensure our retreatants are fed admirably - and organically!

Emily Ings

Head Gardener

Emily is our Co-Head Gardener who started her journey into growing on a traineeship at an organic farm.

Since that time, she has worked in many aspects of horticulture, from market gardening to floristry, in diverse environments including historic gardens and newly-established growing spaces.

She is passionate about environmental sustainability in food-growing and in ornamental gardening and about working in harmony with the environment. 

Says Emily: "I believe that promoting a relationship with the natural world provides a vital connection to the world around us, whether that’s through immersing ourselves in the beauty of a garden, or in growing the food that sustains us".

Lisa Carnell

Education & Events Coordinator

Lisa Carnell entices nature lovers and local schoolchildren to visit the Estate and learn about its rich wildlife and habitats.

"I want to encourage people to open their eyes to what is around them, because it's when you look closely that you discover more," she says.

"The beauty and exquisite landscape here is also so rich in natural wildlife because there's such a variety of habitats on the Sharpham Estate - and that's what makes my heart sing".

Stephen Coker

Bookkeeper

Stephen makes sure our suppliers and staff get paid.

He likes cycling (including to work here) and says: "Sharpham is such a beautiful place and I feel nourished every time I come here. I feel privileged to work here and be part of such an amazing team".

Toria Hare

Volunteer & Mindful in Nature Coordinator

Toria has a deep love of the outdoors and brings that to her work coordinating our ground-breaking Mindful-in-Nature sessions and the volunteering that supports the work of our charity.

Toria comes from a background in ecology and community engagement and is thrilled to be part of the team at Sharpham, helping others to benefit from its magic.

Miguel Rodríguez

Online Administrator

Miguel’s passion for spirituality started at a young age. His inquisitiveness first landed in literature
and art, and later moved onto psychology and philosophy. He was introduced to meditation practice
by his older sister more than twenty years ago and since then has written and published a number of
books that rely on this subject from the perspective of Western as well as Buddhist philosophy.
Miguel’s experience has drawn from contemplative traditions East and West as well as from artistic
practices that work with the imagination. He loves to be on retreat as soon as he gets the
opportunity.

Emily Smith

Retreat Admin Assistant

Tasha Bassingthwaighte

Barn Retreat Manager

Tasha was interested in spiritual practice from a young age and did her first Buddhist meditation retreat at the age of 18. She lived in Nepal, spending time with Tibetan Buddhists, and later moved to a dharma centre in France, deepening her experience and practice of Buddhism.
 
She has lived in various intentional communities in Canada, the USA, and the UK, and has worked in the realm of social services and social justice for the past decade, including community-building while working with refugees, immigrants, and women in poverty.
 
Tasha's inspired in her role by how The Barn works its magic on people. "In one of the early retreats I witnessed at The Barn, on the second day, a retreatant said that it was the most important thing they'd ever done in his life. He repeated it on the last day. The Barn touches people like that, myself included."
 
She lives in Totnes with her partner and her children.

Nina Jankelson

Assistant Barn Manager

Nina began practising mindfulness in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, attending retreat in Northern India and Nepal and later drawing inspiration from the Insight Meditation tradition and the teachings of Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh.

A former residential coordinator at Sharpham's Barn Retreat, Nina has been facilitating meditations, ceremony and retreats for the past five years. Her practice is grounded in a connection to the land and in contacting moments of ordinary beauty and grace in the every day.

She is interested in exploring how contemplative practices can open up our experience of the world and is passionate about creating opportunities for others to do the same. 

Luciana Edwards

Barn Gardener

Luci first took up gardening aged three, when she had a carrot patch on her mum’s allotment. Since then she has gone on to train in permaculture design and has a MSc in Sustainable Agriculture focusing on soil health, which is her number one passion.

Luci has worked on organic and agroecological farms in Portugal, Nepal, Thailand and the UK. She has worked at The Barn as a kitchen gardener since January 2019, and enjoys producing food in close harmony with nature.

Luci also has experience of mindfulness, having undertaken an 8-week mindfulness course, as well as longer retreats at Sharpham, and continues her own practice at home.

Luci loves all things natural, so when she’s not in the garden you can find her exploring wild spaces with her family.

Hannah Cavender

Volunteer Coordinator

Hannah was introduced to meditation through an 8-week mindfulness course during her undergraduate degree. This sparked a curiosity which led her to attend her first retreat at The Barn a few years ago.

Her powerful experience on retreat opened the door to a regular meditation practice, further retreats, and delving deeper into Buddhist teachings and Insight Meditation. She also completed a 10-week counselling skills course in 2023.

Now joining The Barn as a coordinator, she is excited to support others on their journeys of self-discovery and connection through meditation.

Hannah is really interested in how mindfulness, community living, and connection to nature support wellbeing and mental health, particularly in the context of healing from trauma.

Viren Jeram

Volunteer Retreat Coordinator

Viren is stepping away from his job as a manager in the National Health Service to become a Volunteer Coordinator at The Barn in September 2024.

He visited the Barn first in 2019 and has visited regularly as a retreatant.

“The Barn has become a spiritual home for me over the past few years and I’m really excited to be able to support others to experience the wonders of the practice and be nourished by it,” he said.

Viren is passionate about Indian classical music and plays the tabla.

Nic

Volunteer Retreat Coordinator - The Barn

Nic's journey to The Barn started long before she had even heard of it. Her first experience of meditation took place in the NHS where Nic practiced as a mental health social worker and a practitioner in Peer-Supported Open Dialogue: a deep way of listening and sharing with others in the spirit of cultivating a sense of meaning about and belonging in the world.

Since then, she has continued to explore and develop her practice, including the ways in which Buddhist philosophy, deep ecology and psychology come together to enrich and enhance our sense of being with ourselves and all living beings. This curiosity first brought Nic to The Barn in July 2024 and she applied to be a volunteer coordinator without hesitation.

"I had been carrying around a feeling for some time of 'waiting' for something," she says. "I had a growing sense that there was a vast expanse of life I was not living, at least not in ways that felt intuitive or fully aligned with the things that are most important to me. This year at The Barn feels ripe for discovery about how to be in the world and integrate my practice more fully into my life. Sharing this experience of discovery with everyone who visits The Barn is a great joy and privilege - and a way to see and practice with the various ways that the Dharma nourishes ourselves and the world around us."

Nic is a food enthusiast - cooking it, eating it, even just looking at it - and loves experimenting and making meals for other people. She enjoys spending time in the water and is currently making friends with the River Dart (during some very brief, wintry dips). She far prefers listening to speaking but finds that words flow freely through a pen, even if she feels very shy about sharing them with others.

Barry Thurgood

Coach House Manager

Barry has a long term connection with Sharpham - he was a volunteer Retreat Coordinator at The Barn and has lead many retreats in the House and the Woodland Campsite.

He feels a deep connection to the land, especially Dartmoor, and so is delighted to be the Coach House manager with its nature connection ethos. He says "Sharpham has been a big support to me over the years and it is an honour to offer that same support to others".

Wendy Greek

Coach House Cook

Wendy is responsible for the delicious vegan and vegetarian food served at The Coach House! 

Cara Tang

Volunteer Retreat Coordinator

Says Cara: "The vision of Sharpham and the model of retreats and initiatives held here to me is a weaving together of many of the threads from which I've found nourishment and meaning throughout the past years - embodying mindfulness in everyday life, living and working together in community, and connecting with nature and the natural world. Not to mention happy, healthy and yummy food!"

"To be a part of something that is able to offer to others the space, nourishment and inspiration that I've also received from the practice, from my time here, and from all these different elements has been so far a humbling and tender experience. As a budding coordinator, I hope to continue to learn to hold and at the same time be held by the co-creative magic that Sharpham and The Coach House have to offer".

Vik Walduck

Volunteer Retreat Coordinator

Vik is a mindfulness teacher and has completed an MSc in Mindfulness Based Approaches at Bangor University. She has a particular interest in the areas of attention and self-compassion and has done research in these areas. Vik is also a mindful movement and Yin yoga teacher.

She has taught mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction for 15 years and has a particular interest in the areas of attention and self-compassion.

Says Vik: "I love all different kinds of retreats and I really believe that learning this stuff helps people heal and lead better lives".

"And it's so special here - witnessing how people can begin to change over the week they're with us."

Helen Williams

Sharpham House Manager

Helen is a leader of hearts and hands - supporting the smooth day-to-day running of Sharpham House and its committed and caring team of housekeepers and cooks - ensuring retreatants experience deep nourishment during their time with us. 

Helen is also a Buddhist practitioner of nine years and a mindfulness teacher of four years, and leads a Plymouth-based sangha alongside their work at Sharpham.

Rachel Probert

Assistant House Manager

Rachel loves meeting the retreatants when she's looking after Sharpham House.

"It's enjoyable to get to know people from all different walks of life while I'm here," she says.

Rachel completed an 8-week course in mindfulness a decade before she ended up working here. "I felt then that Sharpham was a special place that I felt an affinity with and I hoped one day I'd work at. Now here I am and it has lived up to my expectations."

Sarah Bee

Housekeeper

Sarah Bee takes great pride in caring for Sharpham House and its guests, whilst feeling nourished by the beauty of Sharpham on many levels. Beyond Sharpham she's a reggae singer sharing her conscious, empowering, uplifting message and  an apothecary creating  organic balms and oils!

Georgie Byrom

Housekeeper

Georgie is part of the vital housekeeping team that looks after Sharpham House.

Gayatri Wilkinson

Housekeeper

"Coming to work at Sharpham House has been like coming home," says Gayatri. "I love the ethos, the retreats, serving the people and working with like-minded souls".

"The spiritual journey that I am on earnestly evolves my humanity through service to mankind, mindfulness practices and bringing love into everything that I do".

"The birdsong as I arrive and when I finish my working day, fills me with joy."

Sybille Pouzet

Cook

Sybille is one of the chefs in Sharpham House.

She is French and trained at Ecole Ferrandi in Paris, spending many years in different kitchens in Paris and London: from traditional French bistros to Michelin star restaurants, directors' dining in the corporate world, private catering and yoga retreat work to teaching vegetarian cooking.

Says Sybille: "I feel that cooking and eating well has a direct impact on our minds and bodies and I feel the importance of creating healthy menus and beautiful food to nourish retreatants on many levels during their retreat. I especially enjoy working with the amazing, organic produce we have here at Sharpham from our own vegetable garden and local suppliers. It is a joy to cook with such beautiful ingredients".

Sybille is a practising artist and a mother of two. She has been a yoga and meditation teacher for 15 years and used to run her own retreats.
"All the things I do are interlinked and informed by each other," she says.

"I like to think that cooking and eating in a mindful way can be healing in their own way and I always love seeing people come to the kitchen and spend a moment of mindful veg prep in silence - an experience that can be an important part of the retreat".

Liz Noakes

Sharpham House cook

Liz Noakes has a background of cooking in various different places over the years, interspersed with working in travel and spending many years leading groups through various countries, both cultural tours and hiking in mountain ranges. 

Having decided to settle in Devon, she is now one of the Sharpham House cooks and feels every day is a privilege to come and work at the beautiful estate doing something she loves. 

"To be able to use the fresh garden produce and cook healthy delicious vegetarian food for the retreats is truly a blessing", she says. "I really feel this is so much more than a job for me, I meet and work with such lovely people in a supportive and calm environment surrounded by beautiful nature. Not many jobs can provide this."

David Perkins

Caretaker

David lives here and looks after Sharpham House and grounds (which is a big enough job). But he's also a forest-school leader, bushcrafter, arborist and landworker! Ask him about trees. He'll love that.

Rachael McKerrell

Volunteer Retreat Coordinator

I felt such a strong connection with nature spiritually from when I was a child and it has never changed. Coupled with having a meditation practice it feels like the closest thing to beauty and calm I have ever experienced. I love being on retreat as all of this comes together in the most illuminating way and I am so pleased that I get to help support others in the role of a retreat coordinator on their journey too. I have experience of leading meditations in a Buddhist context and have been on many retreats including at the Coach House and the Barn at Sharpham.