It's not often that you can say you work surrounded by sheep - well, unless you're a farmer.
But for the average office worker, you're probably more used to commuting into busy city centres where high-risers and sky-scrapers are more likely sights than rolling fields and wooly animals. But not when you choose to work at Bloxham Mill.
Bloxham Mill, Banbury
For the second instalment of our new series showcasing the most Spectacular Spaces on our platform, we chatted to Emma McGregor, Commercial Director at Bloxham Mill, about her hidden gem of an office space situated in the Oxfordshire countryside. Here they have all the comforts of a contemporary workspace, as well as a beautifully bucolic setting to boot, with their office being surrounded by pretty fields of sheep. So without further ado, let's hear from Emma herself...
Tell us about yourself and your role at the space? How long have you been there?
I have been at Bloxham Mill for 18 months as Commercial Director. My background is in hotels and hospitality and have always seen my role as facilitating others by providing great service. Whether that means ensuring they have a lovely meal for a special occasion, or a decent cup of coffee on a Monday morning. I see Bloxham Mill very similar to running a hotel, the guests just stay a little longer than a weekend break!
We think your space is pretty unique. But in your own words, tell us what makes your coworking space stand out from the rest?
While we think we have a beautiful space it is all about the people for us. There is a really engaged business community in Banbury and Bloxham, everything from SMEs, large corporates and those who commute to London, Milton Keynes or Birmingham.
We want to provide a space where they can all get what they need to be successful. Whether that is water cooler chat, opportunities to collaborate, just to bounce an idea around or head space to focus on a particular task. All of our office clients also have access to the space and can choose which of their tasks they want to do in their office and which are better suited to an open area.
The pandemic has meant how people work has been thrown in the air and everyone is evaluating the best way for them and their teams to work best in order to achieve their business objectives. I love working with companies to find their best fit at Bloxham Mill, or creating something that we can add to our offering to meet a request.
Whether that's an office share, an office one day or a week or us managing their teams hot desking, these are all possible and part of the new way of working.
If you could add any feature to your ideal coworking venue, what would it be? Think as out-of-the-box as possible.
I would love to have a ‘job posting’ board so it would be easy to find other skills a client might need within our community at Bloxham Mill. This is happening slowly with word of mouth but wouldn’t it be great to be able to work with people on your doorstep first?
What’s one piece of advice you wish all coworkers followed?
Use headphones when you are on a call 😉
If you'd like to take a look at Bloxham Mill for yourself, you can easily book via NearU. Simply download our app from the App Store or Google Play and search, book, work. Did you catch the previous post in this series? If not, read all about Missionworks, a Spectacular Space in Hammersmith here.
