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'I turned my Covid lockdown boredom into a career'

Lee Bottomleyin Stoke-on-Trent
BBC A man in glasses, with a short beard and moustache smiles at the camera. He is wearing a green hoodie over a grey T-shirtBBC
Former scrapyard worker Bob Williams began making wooden planters in his shed during Covid

A former scrapyard worker who began making garden planters while he was furloughed from his job during Covid said he was proud he turned boredom into a business.

Bob Williams bought timber and tools and started producing planters from his shed during lockdown, as he said he could not sit around.

The 50-year-old, who ended up quitting his job to meet demand, now has a workshop in Stoke-on-Trent creating a range of handmade wooden products, and has converted part of the unit into a shop.

Williams said if it was not for his great community of neighbours putting up with noise for almost four years, he would not be where he was today.

"I like messing about with wood," he said, describing how his thought process in Covid was simply: "I've got a big shed, I'll get in the shed, rip everything out of that, buy some tools, and start making some planters."

Bob Williams A brown timber door of a shed, with a sign on it saying Bob's WorkshopBob Williams
Williams worked out of his shed for the first few years before moving to a unit in Fenton

Williams said demand for his creations was helped during lockdown because so many people were at home.

But the orders kept coming in when he went back to work at the scrapyard so he decided he was going to go for it as a business.

"Do we regret it? No, I don't think so, definitely not," he said.

A man and woman are looking at the camera. Both wear grey t-shirts under their tops. The man has glasses and a short beard, the woman has shoulder length blonde hair
Bob and his partner Sam Hallam who will run the shop at Bob's Garden n Wood Stuff

The business expanded to include outdoor furniture and fencing panels as well as a range of planters.

Williams said he was still passionate about working with wood and proud to see his creations in people's gardens, but the downside of handmaking everything was the injuries.

"I've got so many injuries on my hands..my knuckles get hit by the drills and the hammers," he laughed.

Bob Williams A range of wooden products are piled up outside a large brown shed with a covering over the frontBob Williams
While working from his shed, neighbours allowed Williams to use their back garden to get all the wood in

His partner Sam Hallam will run the new shop, while he continues to work from the Fenton unit.

"It's been hard work, but now it's coming to fruition," she said, adding that it was good to have her garden back, after giving over the space to wood for so long.

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