Carole Bamford’s devotion to sustainability has led to pioneering change in both the organic farming and food retail industries. As the founder of Daylesford - an organic farmshop in the Cotswolds with branches across London - Carole always works with nature front of mind, prioritising a harmonious and green approach to her work. Having also founded the skincare, lifestyle and wellness brand Bamford, Carole upholds the belief that what you put onto your body is as important as what you put into it through your food.

Whether through her homeware collections or hand-picked, seasonal produce, Carole maintains a balance between celebrating artistry and craft while also keeping sustainability at the forefront of all that she does. In 2021, Daylesford’s Cotswold restaurant was awarded one of the inaugural Green Michelin Stars, highlighting the establishment’s dedication to environmental practices.

In 2019, Carole launched Seed, a biannual magazine built upon the objective of promoting sustainable living. She has also published three books: Nurture, which follows the story of her working life, A Love for Food, a cookbook with seasonal recipes that work with the natural agricultural cycle, and Daylesford Living, which celebrates her love of entertaining and sustainable interior design.

In her interview with us, Carole discussed how motherhood shifted her perspective on the importance of sustainability and shared the small habits we can all adopt to help reverse the climate crisis.

Q1. How does sustainability influence your work and daily life?

Sustainability isn’t just an idea – it shapes our entire way of life at Daylesford. From the way we look after our soils, grow our crops, rear our farm animals, write our menus and run our pubs to the development of Bamford’s award-winning skincare, home and fashion collections, every decision we make is guided by a deep respect for nature and the earth’s resources.

Q2. Have you experienced any pivotal moments that deepened your understanding or commitment to sustainability?

Making the decision to convert our family farm to organic certainly felt like a pivotal moment for me. It was in the late 1970s, and while pushing my baby daughter Alice around the garden in her pram I noticed that the roses I had not long planted were wilting. I spoke to the farmer next door who told me they were using Roundup on the fields – a powerful herbicide that I had never heard of. As a new mother, I was horrified and knew instantly that we couldn't carry on farming as we were, harming the earth in such a way. It wasn't right for the health of my children and it wasn't right for the land.

Not long afterwards I was at The Royal Agricultural Show in Coventry and came across a little tent run by an organic farmer. The organic movement was still a small, niche thing in those days, but we spoke for a few hours and on the way home I remember saying to my husband, 'We can't carry on farming as we are. We're polluting the soil and the environment with those chemicals. We have to stop.’ So, we went to see our farm manager and he agreed to try it on 30 acres. Seven years later, the whole farm had been turned over to organic and the rest has just grown from there – very instinctively and very naturally.

Q3. Have you encountered any unexpected benefits or opportunities from adopting sustainable practices?

Yes – at our farms in Staffordshire and the Cotswolds we witnessed healthier, better-quality soils. They retained more water, had improved resilience during hot spells and grew lush, protein-rich clover grasses for our cows and sheep.

We also noticed a surge in biodiversity when we stopped using pesticides, re-established the hedgerows and began a consistent cropping and grazing rotation. Pockets of natural wildflowers including poppies, cornflowers and cowslips appeared – all beautiful and essential sources of nectar for insects and pollinators. We’ve also seen an increase in wildlife, including dozens of species of birds, voles, field mice and otters. It is said that organic farms increase biodiversity and species richness by 30% - and both our farms certainly feel alive with wildlife. Seeing nature restore balance in this way brings me joy and hope.

Q4. In your view, what’s one simple and doable lifestyle change that could have a meaningful impact on sustainability?

I believe that if we all make small, individual changes, together we can have a positive impact on sustainability. Choosing to buy whole, unprocessed, seasonal foods from local shops is one of the simplest but most effective actions we can each take. British farmers are the stewards of our landscape. They work according to the seasons and with a deep connection to - and understanding of - nature, so they’re inherently kinder to the planet.

Reducing the amount of food we throw away is another important change we can make, with wasted food being one of the largest contributors to climate change. It’s completely unnecessary. We can all be mindful of our purchasing, consumption and cooking habits so it’s a simple thing for us each to tackle on an individual level.

Q5. How do you think circular economy principles — eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials, and support ecosystem regeneration — could be adopted in your industry or in a hobby?

I think in order to understand the importance of circular economy principles, we must all foster a closer connection with nature and the food that we eat. We have a brilliant cookery school at Daylesford that takes our guests into the market garden, sharing the principles of seasonality, low-waste cooking and making farm-to-fork cooking easy and accessible. Healthy soil provides a real solution to climate change, so I think it is also important that we encourage people to reconnect with the outdoors and adopt gardening as a hobby. I hope to open a gardening school at the farm one day where we will teach people how to turn their waste into compost, nurture crops, harvest their own food and support the collective regeneration of our ecosystem.Q6. Are there any books, documentaries, or podcasts around sustainability that you feel particularly inspired by and would recommend to others?

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is one of the books that changed my life. It was written in the 1960s but her foresight and commentary on the destruction we were wreaking on our planet are still as relevant today as they were then – perhaps even more important.

I loved visiting a wonderful exhibition at Somerset House called ‘SOIL: The World at our Feet’. It was curated by The Land Gardeners and explored the extraordinary role that soil plays in sustaining all life on earth in a way that is at once fun, beautiful, relevant and educational. You can read more about curators, Henrietta Courtauld's and Bridget Elworthy’s work and how the exhibition came about in an interview I conducted here.

Q7. Is there a circular designer or brand you particularly admire and why? This doesn’t have to be in fashion.

The circularity stories within my own businesses are exciting me at the moment, marrying our expertise in organic farming, fashion and food production in an effort to reduce waste. These range from using the wool from our Merino sheep to craft Bamford’s homegrown knitwear collection, clip from our Lleyn sheep to insulate the walls of our cottages, hides from our cattle as leather upholstery in our pubs and most recently we launched Bamford’s B Vibrant Tonifying Body Polish - transforming spent coffee grounds from Daylesford cafés into a natural, invigorating body scrub. We are also looking at ways we can turn the grape skins from Léoube – our biodynamic vineyard in Provence - into a sustainable leather alternative. I firmly believe that with enough skill and ingenuity, there really is no limit to the value you can add to homegrown materials that might otherwise go to waste.

Q8. What is the most timeless piece in your wardrobe, where did you find it and how long have you had it for?

I still adore my Tommy Nutter trousers suits. There is a great little black cashmere one that I bought from his shop on Saville Row in the 1960s and still wear often. He made suits for all of The Beatles, and it was always so exciting to visit his shop and hear all his naughty stories.

Q9. What do you consider when buying new clothing?

As someone who is drawn to smaller artisans who specialise in one specific craft, it’s the storytelling that I consider most when buying new clothes. How has it been made? What is the process behind the craft? Is it a traditional skill passed down through generations? Are the materials natural? Is it a piece I will love and re-wear for years to come?

Q10. How do you curate your wardrobe?

I have always been attracted to considered design, finding more inspiration in nature’s materials and work of the hand rather than anything too obviously fussy or flashy. My personal aesthetic has always bypassed trends as I’m forever seeking the story, heritage and craftsmanship behind a piece of clothing. That quiet detail is the epitome of beauty and luxury for me and it’s that ethos on which I curate my wardrobe.