My name is Lena and I am originally from Estonia
I’ve been working for Castleton Farm since I moved to the UK in 2005. I actually felt disoriented at first, but at the same time ready to discover the unknown. I started by picking strawberries, which is not an easy job considering the weather conditions sometimes, but it got easier and more enjoyable over time.
Things became much easier when I met Gabby, who’s from Romania, and we both got on. We worked together, we fell in love and our love still goes on, both of us aiming for a good future and a better life. It was a strong motivation to overlook the fact that we were living far away from our families.
Working and socialising with the many nationalities of people at the farm offered a good opportunity to learn English and other languages, which made me more confident and ready for any challenge.
Gabby and I understood during this time that the agricultural jobs needed to be done, so we both got more involved in the business. It was at this point we start to climb the ladder; Gabby operating the tractors and various farm machineries and I was starting to lead and motivate our farm workers.
In the spring of 2011 – after six years working and living together – we realised that we had matching destinies and were married at the registry office in Stonehaven. We celebrated our marriage at lovely Castleton Farm Shop, and then had a more formal wedding ceremony in Romania later that year.
We had been living in the farm cottage all this time, still deliberating over our future but at the end of 2013 we finally accepted that Scotland was going to be our second home and we managed to buy our own house 20 miles away from the farm.
Our gorgeous baby girl Angelina was born in the autumn of 2014 , and we fully enjoy family life and we will continue our hard work. This is my little story and I hope you enjoy it.
Thanks to the Castleton Farm team for their full support over all this time.
If anyone wants to join our team, don’t forget to bring the motivation too and you will get full support.
And always remember: DIRTY HANDS brings CLEAN MONEY!
