Little Green Heroes
Published on 25/04/2020 by Dr Lilla Cooper
It’s already nearly May and the Little Green is still and quiet when I nip in and water plants. But every time I go in I’m struck afresh by the sense of happiness and calm that it’s still filled with.
I look around and straight away I’m surrounded by memories of the amazing, talented, supportive people that helped design and build our Little Green. I was so lucky to have such a team around me. No-one could have asked for more and now all that vision and skilful, hard work is a huge part of what brings me an instant sense of ease and content when I walk through the front door.
So this week when I went in I thought I’d bring my camera and take some time singing the praises of that dream team.
Anyone who was part of the Little Green’s initial journey will know that Ania Grom-Yonkali was, and still is, central to the careful beauty of the place. Ania and I sat for hours and consumed hundreds of juices and smoothies as we looked at colours, wallpapers and designs, tasted coffees and little home made biscuits and laughed together. I think it took us a record 3 months to arrive at the wallpaper that’s still up in the cafe! Thank you Ania! I appreciate you every day that I’m in the clinic. You are a truly astonishing woman and have amazing talent! :)
All the beautiful little joinery touches are by Alex Hutt. Alex just knows what it is that makes something look really good. His eye for design is perfect and he’s always been a complete joy to work alongside. I particularly love the pretty little shutter boxes and oak surround glass panel and ladder shelves that Alex made for the first floor. Thank you Alex! You’re brilliant!
Nicky and Ian Kent from Plaster and Paint were our main builders and are my idea of dream builders. I couldn’t recommend them more! They are one hundred percent lovely people, and they actually do everything you always hope a builder will do and then do much more that you hadn’t even realised you needed but actually really did, while keeping within budget! Thank you Nicky and Ian, you know I think you’re amazing!
Graffix Signs worked with brilliant graphic designer Craig Troth from Ginger Edges, Ania and I to turn our Little Green Logo into the pretty lattice designs on all our windows and labels. I remember Craig taking the little bird in our logo and moving it around the branches of the tree like magic!
We all went on so many barista courses! We drank so much coffee! Here in the Lake District we’re surrounded by an astonishing number of incredible individuals with a passion for blending and roasting coffee! What could we do? I couldn’t recommend Rin from Rinaldo’s speciality coffee and tea enough. His coffee making course is incredible! Have a go; you’ll love it! We ended up going with Atkinson’s Coffee roasters from Lancaster and our coffee drinking habit has now become a way of life! Atkinson’s have gone out of their way to be supportive. They chose and fitted our beautiful espresso machine for us, trained us all up in the dark art of the coffee bean and have been all round amazing people. We use their own blend of bean; Archetype and now our first cup is a highlight of every working day. Thank you, Atkinson’s!
We love our neighbours and Brockelbanks have kept us smiling with morning catchups as well as all their fresh, affordable and often locally sourced fruit and veg! Thank you guys, we love you!
The beautiful ash and sycamore wood around the clinic and cafe came from Witherslack Woodlands; a great local, sustainable timber and fire wood supplier.
The wool carpets and other flooring was all supplied and fitted by Michael Atkinson, a local family firm who I couldn’t recommend more highly.
We needed to completely remove the inside of the building to redesign and fit it, including floors, walls and stairs, and the company who said it would all be all right, and designed the beautiful little layout of rooms we have now was John Cowards Architects in Cartmel. Thank you guys!
Cumbria Roofing were super heroes in fixing our roof.
Mike Foster our local building regs guy was incredibly supportive, upbeat and helpful; thank you Mike!
Our brilliant plumber who did our complete plumbing refit was Greg Lawson, and he’s back in the Lakes again after a move away! Go get him! He’s the best plumber I’ve ever known!
Kay Hebbourn was a life support. One of the loveliest, most inspiring and all round brilliant people, Kay made us spontaneous dinners, helped with our web site and was always there for us. Thank you Kay!
Ari Cooper-Davis was and is, endlessly helpful. From IT to painting walls and running our cafe, Ari has been a true super star! Thank you Ari!
Other heroes with painting, building, demolishing and rebuilding, as well as laughing, drinking coffee, testing juices and advising were;
Suzanne Owen, Katherine Macintosh, Angelo, Allan, Louis Battersby, Wards in Barrow, Cumbria Scaffolding and Dick Bennett.
Phew! That’s a lot of people and they are all a huge part of what makes me smile when I turn up at work every morning. And every time someone sitting in my waiting room, or walking into a new room in the clinic, looks around and says ‘this is such a beautiful place!’
This amazing group of people are the reason I can smile and say ‘Thank you, yes! it really is!’
