Indigo Brown

Date: Wednesday 2nd April 2008

Maggie Brown is a successful and experienced artist whose work includes commissioned paintings, portraiture, card designs, and teaching paint and drawing techniques. Moving to Wales from a hectic life in the Midlands, Maggie and her husband Andrew, turned their attention to running a business that would bring together their passion for art, hospitality and good food. They began planning Indigo Brown to provide painting holidays and breaks for aspiring artists, art groups or anyone looking for a relaxing break in Pembrokeshire.

In early 2007 Andrew and Maggie approached PBI for support and were soon working with Mark James, their Start up adviser, who provided a blank canvas from which to create a successful strategy for the business. This involved outlining the important steps that Andrew and Maggie needed to take in order for the business to proceed in the way they had envisaged and being on hand for any issues or questions that inevitable arise when starting a new business.

Mark liaised closely with Andrew and Maggie to ensure that the correct steps were taken in the business start up process, paying particular attention to the financial issues, which can be a problem in the lead up to officially trading. Mark was also instrumental in bringing in further support from PBI in terms of marketing consultancy and website marketing help. This proved invaluable as the business was primarily promoted over the internet and relied on its website to bring in the quantity and quality of enquiries required to meet the plans drawn up by Mark, Andrew and Maggie.

Maggie found that moving to Pembrokeshire further inspired her to develop her own art, combining her love of nature and the landscape with the exploration of texture, light and colour, all of which she was relishing bringing to her new students. Armed with this stimulus Maggie and Andrew put in considerable work to improve their property to turn it into welcoming accommodation for general visitors and art workshop attendees.

After a year of hard work, Andrew and Maggie have now opened their doors to artists and art lovers of all kinds. Indigo Brown, based at Swmbarch House, a converted farmhouse just outside Letterston, now boasts 3 double en-suite rooms, with courses taken in the drawing room and conservatory. Andrew and Maggie are now looking forward to inspiring a range of artists with the qualities that Pembrokeshire has to offer as a painting retreat.