From My Mother’s Garden

Penny Callaghan

I am Penny, owner of Colmers Hill Fashion Boutique and my own clothing label: From My Mother’s Garden.  My dream has always been to open a boutique of my own but to have my own label is the icing on the cake!  So here I am, living my dream, running a gorgeous fashion boutique in a quintessentially English Village in beautiful Dorset.

I have always had a real interest in fashion.  When I was a teen I worked every hour I could, so I could take a shopping trip to London and South Moulton Street to buy shoes!  For many years I worked in London international marketing agencies, working for lots of big names.  The draw to work for myself began, when I opened my own PR agency working on big consumer events and shows, films, music, launching new shopping villages and town centre malls.  I loved the creative side of marketing.

Eventually, being a Devon girl, I was drawn back to the South West, so threw everything up in the air and re-invented myself by opening a shop and 100-seat café in Lyme Regis in 2003. The first day we opened I had no idea how to use a till (major oversight!).  Having worked it out, I ran the business for 11 years, selling it in 2014.

I then happened across Symondsbury Manor Yard by chance when we were out walking the Dorset hills on a beautiful day. We came across it – in a quintessentially English village – and had coffee in a lovely café there. I just had this pull in my heart that this would be a magical place to set up a fashion boutique.  I decided to go for it and open up Colmers Hill Fashion!

My goal is to offer customers something different and exciting. To create a beautiful space with creative displays and a relaxed, non-pressured environment. To find brands that have ethical and environmental credentials, along with British labels that produce locally or use traditional manufacturing techniques and materials. To think about the customer and what they want.

I have a great collection of brands and a wonderful team.  I have gone online and won UK Online Boutique of the Year in 2017, Business of the Year and Retail Business of the Year 2020 in the Bridport Awards.  It is really rewarding (and fun!) to be able to help women find the right clothes that make them feel good about themselves.

Penny x