Sharpham People

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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".

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

Finance Officer

Stephen 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".

Verity Weedon

Bookkeeper

Verity makes sure our suppliers and staff get paid.

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.

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.

Iain Gale

Volunteer Retreat Coordinator - The Barn

Iain is a Volunteer Retreat Coordinator at The Barn.

Philip Anderson

Volunteer Retreat Coordinator - The Barn

I first visited The Barn in 2022 and immediately felt cared for and safe. 

The more times I came on retreat the more The Barn felt like a spiritual home. It was somewhere I could slow down, become still and pay attention to whatever arose. 

I am genuinely honoured to become a part of the line of co-ordinators who have left their mark here in South Devon.

I have been following Buddhism for 30 or so years now and am really interested in how being amongst like-minded people and right up close with the beautiful environment of the Dart valley helps my practice and in turn how I can share that with retreatants over the year.

Avena Rawnsley

Cook

From seed to plate, Avena has a deep interest in all aspects of food, from the nitty-gritty of agriculture, to the philosophy of social food structures.

She has spent years working in retreat kitchens and environmental projects around Europe and has gathered a bulging basket full of recipes, techniques and attitudes towards food.

Her adventures have taken her from the Swiss alps cooking for spiritual communities to the heart of the Spanish desert managing the sustainable kitchen for eco projects - and many places in between.

She loves to sing as she works and to talk about the places she has been, any form of environmental project, or any innovative recipe ideas people have.

Her ethos is one of nourishment and support, seeking to embed healthy food culture into the heart of the Coach House retreats so that everyone who enters the space and eats the food feels resourced to do the practices that have drawn them to Sharpham. 

Avena's cooking style has been informed by her work in environmental projects and she is committed to providing organic, vegetarian food that tastes good and uses food produced on site (or as close as possible). Everything she cooks seeks to answer the questions of how food can be sustainable, delicious, and nourishing.

Rachel Jennings

Cook

Rachel learnt to cook at an early age and sees cooking as an important life skill and potential pleasure for everyone.

Before coming to Sharpham she had a wide variety of cooking experiences, ranging from running an after-school cookery club at her daughters’ school and making birthday and wedding cakes freelance to cooking lunches at a democratic school in Ashburton, where she’s lived for the last 17 years.

Along the way she and her daughter organized a Regency Ball at Sharpham in aid of Amnesty International, devising and cooking an authentic 19th century menu in full period costume!

A textile artist by training, she spends the rest of her week knitting, sewing and spinning - and playing the clarinet.

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.

Sophia Elek

Assistant House Manager

Sophia is still pinching herself to find herself working at Sharpham. She is happy to be a 'house elf' and contribute to the smooth running of the retreats, alongside the hard working housekeepers and cooks. Her route to reach Devon circled the globe: having grown up in Papua New Guinea, USA & Australia, she worked in international development in South Asia prior to settling in Devon. She fell into Buddhism in her 20s, living in a Buddhist community in Australia and spending time on retreat with teachers in Australia, India & UK.

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.

Claire Stone

Volunteer Retreat Coordinator

Claire first attended The Barn in December 2022, and has not been able to stay away long ever since. She finds the combination of meditation, Buddhism and living in community in the beautiful surroundings in Devon incredibly nourishing and healing for body, mind and soul.

Claire says: “It has become a precious place for me, where I know that no matter what is going on in life, at some point I can find peace of mind there.”

Claire first connected with Buddhism in 2014 at a retreat in Chiang Mai in Thailand; but since The Barn lit up her mind and imagination, she has spent the last 3 years exploring the world of meditation in earnest. Some of her highlights include Metta and Self-Compassion retreats with Ven. Canda, Ethan Pollock and Lucy Chan; a retreat at Holy Isle in the Tibetan tradition with Lama Zhang Mo; and visiting Plum Village for the first time in 2025. She is drawn to the power of compassion, and the poetic and everyday wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh, which she first encountered as the eating meditation at The Barn (now learnt by heart).

She is excited to be joining The Barn as a volunteer co-ordinator, to deepen her spiritual practice and journey, and help to tend and nurture a community that has already given her so much.

Before life at The Barn, Claire was a creative producer of projects that combined art and social justice, working with communities - such as women in the criminal justice system, and people living with brain injury - to showcase their talents. She loves all things art, philosophy and being with people (including animals).

She is one The Barn’s many advocates and recommends it to anyone who will listen.

Richard Carruthers

Volunteer Retreat Coordinator

Richard joined as a Volunteer Retreat Coordinator in The Coach House in October 2025. His journey to Sharpham has encompassed mindfulness, nature, and soul-craft.

These paths to healing, self-connection, and community have developed through meditation and mindfulness practices over the past seven years, various retreats beginning in 2021, and a three-year masculine embodiment course involving Jungian psychology, meditation, and body psychotherapy, which he helped to facilitate and coordinate.

Through nature connection and mindful practice, Richard believes it is possible to flourish in what can often be a chaotic world. He is delighted to be in service at the Coach House and has developed a deep connection with the two Mangalitza pigs on the estate. He is particularly interested in how animals can bring a calm, healing energy into our lives.

Rose Willis

Volunteer Retreat Coordinator

Rose is a Volunteer Support Coordinator at The Coach House retreat venue between roles.

She's giving service during her gap year after finishing an art foundation course in Bristol and before studying architecture at Falmouth University in Cornwall next year.

Says Rose: "I love the land and being in nature, which brings me a deep peace. I started meditating around three years ago which has since become a big part of my life. I want to deepen my practice by combining it with being immersed in nature - this is part of the reason I chose to come to Sharpham".