It all began…

…in the long hot summer days under the weeping willow trees on her family’s farm in the English countryside, Mary and her 7 brothers and sisters built tree houses and camps and played in the shade.

From an early age she was involved in farming; her family running a small farm and managing a menagerie of animals in order to be self-sufficient. The seeds of environmental responsibility and sustainable living were planted in Mary from this early age.

Mary's passion for experimentation with food and drink traces back to her parents living and working in Nigeria. Her father was a teacher and her mother in charge of a district hospital working as a doctor. Mary's father was a keen cook and loved, in particular, creating recipes using unusual herbs and spices.

Following in her father's footsteps, with a particular passion for African and Asian flavours, this joy in utilising exotic ingredients has been the guiding force in developing her unique gin.

A year of experimentation

After a couple of iterations experimenting with various ideas, a chance comment about a friend flavouring whiskey sent Mary down the path of researching spirits production and the realisation of the growing popularity of craft gins.

After completing a course in distilling and achieving the required licences a still was purchased and the flavour experimentation began! At this point and despite the already considerable effort expended, it was realised that the journey had only just begun as it took another year of research into flavour combinations before Mary was satisfied she had created a truly unique gin.

There are a number of factors in the recipe that sets Willow Tree Gin apart including the particular herb and spice blend and the smoking process using carefully selected wood on the farm to impart a smooth richness to the gin.

Handcrafted in the Bedfordshire countryside

Willow Tree gin was originally distilled in small batches on Mary's family farm in Bedfordshire, where her family has lived for the last 40 years.

Her family moved from the main farmhouse to the renovated barns in 2012. The family farm is now used to grow selected herbs used in her gin recipe.

Willow Tree moved locations in 2020 to the small hamlet of Thorncote Green. Their distillery is on Franklins Farm alongside a farm shop, cafe, florist, dog groomers and personal trainer.

The move was to allow more people to come to the distillery and see where the magic happens. The full Willow Tree gin range is available to buy from the distillery. Alongside making all the gin onsite, Willow Tree Distillery also run gin experiences such as gin-making courses and distillery tours and tastings weekly.

Environmentally conscious

It was extremely important to Mary that the process for manufacturing her gin was sustainable and environmentally conscious.

To reduce impact on resources the water used in the distilling process is recycled in a closed loop twin condenser and the botanicals that give the gin its unique flavour are composted afterwards and used to fertilise and grow fresh herbs. Sold in classically beautiful glass bottles, the packaging uses as little plastic as possible.

Willow Tree Distillery is now also working closely in collaboration with the Forest of Marston Vale - donating 50p for every full-size bottle of Willow Tree Gin sold to ensure new trees are planted for future generations to enjoy.

Click here to look at all the ways we choose to be a sustainable business.