Richard and Caroline came to farming quite late in life. They farmed in Wales for 15 years before moving to Somerset and Tree Tops Farm six years ago, to be closer to their family. A period of oversupply in the organic milk market encouraged them to start making cheese as a sideline, though now nearly all the milk from the herd of 40 cows goes into their award-winning soft and hard cheeses. Eggs from the farm also won a 'gold' in the 2006 Organic Food Awards. Now Tree Tops Farm supplies restaurants, box schemes, retailers and sells direct to the public via their website.

• Can you describe a typical day in your life?
  We don't really have a 'typical' day, as the work schedule changes with the day of the week, the months of the year and the seasons, but an average Monday in the summer starts with Caroline getting up at 5.00am to milk the cows whilst I let the hens out of their sheds and feed them. I then set up the grazing paddock for the cows for the day and check the other animals are alright in their fields before collecting the milk from the bulk tank on the farm and taking it to the cheesemaking building. I then run the milk through the pasteuriser and into the cheese vats, at which point our cheesemaker, Barbara, takes over, adding starter, mould and rennet.
  
  After cleaning the milk tank and the pasteuriser, I join Caroline for a quick breakfast before we pack up the orders for the week and I set off in the van to do the local deliveries, whilst Caroline helps Barbara make the day's cheeses and packs up the orders to be collected or sent out via courier.
  
  By the time I have returned from the deliveries, Caroline has prepared the cheeses to be taken to the smokery to be smoked. After lunch, there is always a lot of paperwork or other office work to do until tea time. Then the hens get fed again and their eggs collected; checked and boxed and labelled ready for the next delivery. Meanwhile Caroline has returned to the milking parlour to do the evening milking. I then prepare the night-time pasture for the cows before returning to the cheesemaking room to turn the cheeses made that morning. Then it's dinner time and we can rest until dusk when the hens have to be shut up for the night to protect them from foxes, and the cows have to be checked to make sure all is well for the night.

• Can you give a short history of how you got to where you are now, including why and when you 'went organic'?
  My wife, Caroline, and I moved from our farm in Wales to Tree Tops Farm in January 2001. We started conversion to organic status the day we moved in. We brought our herd of Jersey cows from Wales, but bought some more as soon as we arrived, as our present farm is bigger than the previous one.
  
  Our intention was to sell all our organic milk to a distributor, but by the time we had finished conversion, there was a surplus of organic milk in the country and we could not get a contract for it. So we decided to make cheese from our milk (to 'add value'). Whilst we have been increasing our production, our surplus milk has been sold as non-organic Channel Islands milk, but we are near the point when all our milk will be made into cheese.
  
  Farming organically is much more challenging and harder work than conventional farming, but it is far more rewarding. To be able to work alongside nature instead of trying to overcome nature's way with artificial means is the best bit.

• Organic principles – why do they matter?
  Apart from a few with an axe to grind I think that everyone now realises that organic means 'good for the environment', 'good for us humans', and 'good for the wildlife that shares our planet'.

• What does the Soil Association mean to you?
  You might say that they are a pain, as they keep us producers and processors on our toes and don't allow our standards slip. On the other hand, their logo means that consumers can feel confident that our products have been produced to the highest organic standards.

• How do you plan to progress in the future? What is your vision?
  Providing the cheese business continues to grow, one day it should outgrow the farm and then we'll move to a bigger farm. I would love to have a really large mixed farm that I can develop into a 'carbon neutral' farm.

• If you were starting all over again, what would you do differently?
  Start when I was younger.

• What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
  Doing things wrong is a learning experience; not doing things is a mistake.

• What do you love most about what you do?
  Walking round the fields on a sunny summer's day.

• What keeps you awake at night?
  Legislative paperwork and the bank.

• What do you find most frustrating about what you do?
  Government legislation.

• Any unusual hobbies or past careers?
  Before we started farming 20 years ago, Caroline was an academic lawyer and I was a computer consultant. We used to fly hot-air balloons for a hobby.

• How can the organic market be improved?
  I think the organic market will improve naturally from now on – like a snowball rolling downhill.

• What other organic ventures do you admire and why?
  All of them – because being organic is much harder work than not being organic.

• Supermarkets – good or bad?
  For the shopper, supermarkets are good in concept. It's just that they are so powerful that they change people's buying habits and they are driven by profit, so don't always do what is best for the shopper.

• What is the biggest threat to what you do?
  Lack of money, or Caroline or I becoming seriously ill.

• What's the best thing about organic farms?
  The wildlife.

• What is your favourite meal?
  Smoked salmon followed by roast chicken and all the trimmings (organic of course).

• If I was Prime Minister I would...
  Spend a lot more money in trying to combat global warming.

• When were you happiest?
  I have been happy for most of my adult life.

• What is your greatest fear?
  That we don't succeed in our business before we get too old to continue.

• What is your favourite word?
  Sunshine.

• What would be your 'Desert Island' luxury?
  If I am not allowed my wife, then my dogs.