From NHS Burnout to Bow-Tied Llamas—How One Woman Built a Business on Wellbeing

Executive Spotlight: Celia Gaze

When Celia Gaze hit burnout in her high-powered NHS role, she made a decision that would seem mad to most: she quit, moved to a rundown farm, and eventually put bow ties on llamas. It turned out to be the best decision of her life.

Now 53, Celia is the founder of The Wellbeing Farm, an award-winning wedding and corporate events venue in Lancashire that’s become one of the UK’s most sought-after destinations for couples and companies alike. But the journey from NHS Turnaround Director to rural entrepreneur wasn’t straightforward. It involved court battles, near bankruptcy, and the kind of stress she’d been trying to escape—until a moment of creative inspiration with a llama changed everything.

What makes Celia’s story particularly compelling is her refusal to polish the truth. Her book, Why Put a Bow Tie on a Llama? How a crazy idea can change your life and transform your business is refreshingly honest about the realities of entrepreneurship, the toll of burnout, and the power of finding your niche. Shortlisted for the Business Book Awards 2021 alongside household names like Trunki’s founder, Celia’s journey resonates because it’s real—the successes, the failures, and everything in between.

During lockdown, Celia revisited her original vision for the farm as a wellbeing space and launched Wellbeing Corporate, offering team-building experiences that help other burnt-out professionals reconnect with themselves. She’s also on a mission to transform the hospitality industry through B Corp certification, challenging the sector’s reputation for long hours and poor work-life balance.

From selling second-hand clothes at car boot sales to building a purpose-led business that puts staff wellbeing first, Celia Gaze has turned her own struggles into a blueprint for sustainable success. And yes, the llamas still wear bow ties.

The Breaking Point You went from being an NHS Turnaround Director to experiencing severe burnout—white knuckles on the steering wheel, unable to recognise yourself. What was happening in your life and work that pushed you to that point, and what finally made you realise you had to walk away? What would you say to others who are currently in that same place?

Burnout didn’t arrive dramatically. It crept up quietly and then hit all at once. I was a Turnaround Director in the NHS. High pressure. High responsibility. Constant crisis mode. I was good at it, which meant I was given more, not less. I lived in my head, ran on adrenaline, and told myself this was just what leadership looked like.

The moment I knew something was wrong was sitting in my car, gripping the steering wheel so tightly my hands hurt. I didn’t recognise who I’d become. I was successful on paper but completely disconnected from myself. Walking away felt terrifying. I’d built my identity around being capable, resilient, indispensable. But staying would have cost me my health, my relationships, and eventually myself. That experience is exactly why I later created Conscious Day.

What I learned is that burnout doesn’t come from one bad week. It comes from years of never stopping. Of making decisions on autopilot. Of postponing reflection because everything feels urgent. Conscious Day is a deliberate pause. One day a year to stop drifting and start deciding. To ask how we are living, leading and working, before our bodies force the question on us.

To anyone in that place now: burnout is not a personal failure. It’s a systems failure. If your body is whispering or screaming, listen. You don’t need to blow your life up overnight, but you do need to pause. Nothing important improves when you ignore the warning signs.

The Pivot That Nearly Broke You You left one high-stress situation and walked straight into another—transforming a rundown farm whilst facing court battles and near bankruptcy. At what point did you realise you’d jumped from the frying pan into the fire, and how did you find the resilience to keep going? What was it about that moment with the llama and the bow tie that changed everything?

I realised I’d jumped from the frying pan into the fire fairly quickly. I left corporate pressure and walked straight into financial pressure, legal battles, planning issues, and near bankruptcy. The romantic idea of “escaping to the countryside” disappeared fast. This was not a gentle reinvention. It was relentless. There were moments when I questioned everything.

What kept me going wasn’t blind optimism. It was stubbornness, creativity, and a refusal to accept that this was all there was. The llama moment mattered because it unlocked something. I stopped trying to copy what everyone else was doing and leaned into being different. The bow tie wasn’t a gimmick. It was a signal. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we care deeply about how people feel here. That shift changed everything. It gave us identity, confidence, and permission to stand out.

The Honest Truth About Entrepreneurship Your book deliberately doesn’t “polish” the story the way most business success stories do. Why was it so important to you to share the messy, difficult parts—the failures, the stress, the mistakes? What do you think entrepreneurs most need to hear that they’re not being told?

I didn’t want to write another sanitised success story. Entrepreneurship is often sold as freedom, flexibility, and fulfilment. The reality includes fear, exhaustion, self-doubt, and decisions that keep you awake at 3am. Pretending otherwise helps no one. I shared the messy parts because honesty is more useful than inspiration.

What entrepreneurs most need to hear is this: struggle does not mean you’re doing it wrong. Feeling overwhelmed does not mean you’re not cut out for it. Success is rarely linear, and resilience is built in the unglamorous moments. f we talked about that more openly, fewer people would feel broken when things get hard.

Wellbeing as a Business Model During lockdown, you completed a 100 Days of Wellbeing challenge and relaunched the farm with corporate wellbeing at its heart. How has your own experience with burnout shaped the way you design experiences for other professionals? What do you think most companies get wrong about employee wellbeing?

My own burnout fundamentally shapes everything we design. During lockdown, I completed a 100 Days of Wellbeing challenge and revisited why I started the farm in the first place. It was never just about events. It was about how people feel. Corporate wellbeing isn’t yoga and fruit bowls. It’s not a perk. It’s about how work is designed, how decisions are made, and how people are treated when pressure is high.

We build experiences that create space to think, reconnect, and breathe. No forced fun. No performative wellness. Just practical pauses that help people reset. Most companies get wellbeing wrong by treating it as an add-on rather than a leadership responsibility. You cannot meditate your way out of a toxic culture.

Challenging Hospitality’s Status Quo You’re working towards B Corp certification in an industry notorious for long hours, low pay, and terrible work-life balance. That’s ambitious—some might say impossible. Why do you believe hospitality can change, and how are you proving it’s possible at The Wellbeing Farm? What’s your message to other hospitality business owners?

Hospitality has normalised burnout for too long. Long hours. Low margins. People treated as disposable. We accept it because “that’s just the industry”. I don’t buy that. We became B Corp certified because I wanted accountability, not good intentions. It forces you to look at how you treat staff, suppliers, the environment, and your community, not just your customers.

Is it harder? Yes. Is it slower sometimes? Yes. Is it possible? Absolutely. At The Wellbeing Farm, we prove that you can run a commercially successful venue while caring about people and planet. Profit and purpose are not opposites.

My message to other hospitality owners is simple: stop waiting for permission to do things differently. The old model is broken. You don’t fix that by working harder. You fix it by working consciously.

Finding Your Llama The llama in the bow tie became your differentiator—the thing that made you stand out in a crowded market. For entrepreneurs struggling to find their “llama,” their unique angle, what advice would you give? How do you know when you’ve found that thing that will blow your competition away?

Your “llama” is not something you invent in a brainstorm. It usually shows up when you stop copying and start paying attention to what makes you. For me, it was humour, warmth, humanity, and not taking ourselves too seriously in a very serious industry. The bow-tied llama became a symbol of that.

You’ll know you’ve found your thing when it feels slightly uncomfortable but deeply right. When people remember you. When the right customers lean in and the wrong ones opt out.

Differentiation isn’t about being louder. It’s about being clearer. If you’re trying to appeal to everyone, you’ll blend into the noise. If you have the courage to stand for something, even something a bit odd, you become unforgettable.

The Wellbeing Farm:

The Wellbeing Farm is a multi-award winning wedding and events venue which is known for its quirky and fun approach. It was crowned best wedding venue (countryside) in the North West by The Wedding Industry Awards. Fully licensed for civil ceremonies, the venue’s aim is to make planning a wedding as stress-free and fun-filled as possible. The rustic barns, an Aladdin’s cave of amazing props to decorate the venue and some very special guests – bow-tie-wearing llamas, alpacas and donkeys to join the party all add to the uniqueness of The Wellbeing Farm.

The venue’s three bars, including ‘Bar O’Llama’, created from a horse trailer, serve everything from vintage cocktails to a fabulous selection of gins. While the llama boudoir, tipi, fire pit, crazy golf, animals and garden games ensure guests have endless entertainment.

The farm has its own family butcher’s (Whiteheads Butchers which has been trading for over 130 years) and rears its own lamb and grows edible flowers for decorating the wedding food served. The venue is also very sustainable achieving the highest awards for green business.

OUT NOW – Celia’s book has been shortlisted in the Business Journey category of the Business Book Awards 2021. Celia has been listed amongst some amazing business stories including Rob Law, MBE who founded the Trunki and Rob Angel who created Pictionary the bestselling board game