Manager – olive oil farm

My name is Holly Hinchliffe Cooper and I'm the manager of Querubi Olive Oil.

Our small team includes the farmers, the owner and me. As the manager, I wear multiple hats and do everything from sales and marketing to farming and even redesigning the packaging.

When I'm in France, I'll be doing farm work - looking after the trees, checking water levels, planning the following year's harvest, and bottling and processing the oil ready for sale. When I'm in the UK, I'll be working on the administration and marketing side of the business, such as the website, analytics, newsletters and photo shoots.

To cover so many areas of the business, you need to be a proactive, hands-on, practical type of person. If I'm on the farm, I get stuck in. If something breaks, I fix it. The flip side is that I work a lot on my own when it comes to the marketing side of things. So, you also need to be self-motivated.

Harvest happens in October. It's hard work but rewarding. Every morning, we hit the farm at 8 a.m. to find the first tree of the day. We hook up a big machine that shakes the tree so that the olives fall down. Each of us has a vibrating stick with a battery pack that we carry on our backs.

We have lunch together, then head back out until the end of the day. This happens every day until all 10,000 trees are harvested.

The farm is my favourite place on earth. It's situated right up in the Pyrenees Mountains, near the Spanish border, with absolutely stunning views. We're overlooked by Mount Canigou, which legend says has sacred powers, so we feel blessed that it looks over us. With the snowy mountains in the background and groves of olive trees drenched in sunlight, you couldn't ask for a better location. We have almost the perfect climate for growing olive trees, but because of climate change, we get less rain every year.

I've been involved in farming my whole life. But the importance of biodiversity and organic farming was something I didn't fully understand until recently. Since I started to work on an organic farm, I've become really passionate about the topic, just like everyone else I work with.

It's incredible to work with a team that shares your passions. Being all-organic, we don't use any chemicals, so it takes a long time for the trees to grow. It's a slow process, but worth the outcome.

These days, people are becoming more aware of their buying processes. They are much more conscious about what they use for cooking, what they put inside their bodies and whether products are sustainable. It's great knowing that we're a part of this movement.