A combination of ill health and the impact of the recession left Steve and Anne Jaques’ lavender farm floundering. But then a BBC TV crew came to the rescue. JENNIFER KEE reports.

IN FEBRUARY this year, Anne Jaques hit what she calls “rock bottom”.

Her husband, Steve, had been ill for six years with a combination of chronic fatigue syndrome and a benign brain tumour. And because he was the business force behind the lavender farm the couple run together, their company was also floundering.

Anne had tried to remain positive, learning as she went along in an effort to keep the business going.

“We did not have a choice but to work through it,” she says. “Where there is hope, you can build up and up.”

But by the start of this year, it was all getting too much. After years of gradual recovery, Steve could still only manage half days at work.

“Steve’s the businessman,” Anne says. “I had no experience in this field, although I had started a HNC in garden design at Bishop Burton College as a hobby.”

She began to think they would have to sell Wolds Way Lavender. In desperation, she applied to take part in a new BBC TV series, The Million Dollar Intern. This decision was to save their English lavender business – and change their lives.

A BBC crew, accompanied by young entrepreneur Rich Martell, who provided business expertise, arrived at the farm in June this year to give the business a makeover.

It was badly needed. The products were great, Anne says, the problem lay in the way they were presented.

“What was pointed out to us was that we have a fantastic product but I remember the entrepreneur saying, ‘These bottles are horrible, I would never buy these and I can’t imagine anyone who would’,” she says.

With the help of the programme, those packages were given a makeover. The elegant blue bottles were packed in pristine white boxes bearing with the company’s logo.

Steve also revamped the website. The result, when the film director returned in July, was a big “wow”.

“We had done so much more than he expected,” Anne says. “We’ve dressed the product in the clothing it deserves.”

The couple have now fallen back in love with their business – farming liquid gold, they call it. And the compliments have been flooding in, especially for the essential lavender oil, extracted using a wood-fired burner, the only one in the UK.

Many lavender distilleries extract the oils using an electric steam oil generator, which takes about 40 minutes; the Jaques use an old-fashioned technique which takes up to three hours, aiming to get all the goodness out of the lavender.

“People have told us over the last seven years that they really like our oil because it is different, that it really works with its medicinal and aromatherapy benefits,” Anne says.

The couple set up the business in 2002, choosing a location on the edge of the Vale of Pickering, just off the A64 between Malton and Scarborough, which had just the type of dry, sandy soil lavender loves.

“Carrots would also have been good, but we didn’t think a carrot farm would be as good a tourist attraction,” Steve says.

At first, the business went well. But by 2006, Steve was beginning to feel unwell.

Doctors initially thought it was a stress-related illness and gave him the strongest anti-depressants available. But after an MRI scan revealed something on his brain, the couple became seriously worried.

At the end of 2006, the doctors ruled out MS, but Steve was told he could have cancer. There was a long wait while his notes were considered by medical experts.

It was torture, Steve says. “They left me in this state at Christmas, waiting to know what this was in here,” he says, pointing to his head.

They paid to see a neurologist privately in Hull in March 2007 and learned that the “something” sitting in his right frontal lobe was a benign tumour.

According to the neurologist, the tumour was like a steam train that had been sitting rusting in the corner. Steve would need annual scans to monitor the tumour, but it didn’t seem to be growing.

The diagnosis explained why Steve felt numb on the left side of his body. But it didn’t explain the tiredness he experienced after even the smallest physical effort. “I could not even put a nut and bolt together and I’m an engineer,” he says.

That, he learned, was down to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS, otherwise known as ME). He was only officially diagnosed with ME a year ago, although they had suspected it from the beginning.

“Having ME feels like when you do too much exercise, and the lactic acid builds up. It locks me all up,” Steve says.

“In the early days, if I did half a day of exercise, it would take me one, two or even three days to recover. In 2006 I could have got into a wheelchair and never got out. I can understand why some do it.”

Until last year, Steve could only manage half days at work. But the pair struggled on.

When they initially set up the business, Anne had given up her job as a special needs assistant at Norton College to concentrate on the farm. But she didn’t have Steve’s business nous.

“I was thrown in at the deep end,” she says.

By the beginning of this year, Anne was getting desperate, which was when she turned to the BBC. Anne’s main worry now is that Steve may become ill again. The couple believe his ME may have been the result of working through a viral infection and having two jobs.

“Steve’s determination to get better really helped him recover,” Anne says. “He wanted to know why he had become so ill and how to get better. But I do worry he will overdo it again.”

One of the hardest things during his illness was watching other people do tasks he could do better, she says. Thanks to the programme, they have learned to delegate more responsibilities to their capable staff.

From April, there will also be free admission to the farm for visitors. The future for Wolds Way Lavender is looking bright.

“One of the main things we’ve learned from the programme is that we are sitting on a gold mine,” Steve says.

“No one does this the way we do. We are thrilled with the results, but we are always thinking of new ways to improve our brand and product.”

Standing back to look over their fields of gold, you can see how the programme has reignited their passion for their lavender and has rejuvenated their business.

All that remains for them is to allow the liquid gold to work its magic.

• The Million Dollar Intern will be aired in spring


Fact file

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), or myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), causes persistent fatigue or exhaustion which does not go away with sleep or rest.

Anyone can get ME, but it tends to affect women more than men. Many, particularly children and young people, recover over time Figures estimate about 250,000 people in the UK have the condition.

Symptoms vary from mild and moderate to severe. In mild cases, sufferers are still able to care for themselves but may need resting days; moderate cases see a reduced mobility. In severe cases, daily tasks such as brushing teeth are manageable but sufferers have significantly reduced mobility and may have difficulty concentrating.

There is no cure but treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy, graded exercise therapy and medication have varying benefits.

While it is not known what causes the condition, theories suggest a link with problems such as the immune system; a viral infection or an imbalance of hormones, although these are not the only factors.

Source: nhs.co.uk