First, briefly tell us a bit about yourself and your current business.
Hi, I’m Cathy Court, a Registered Nutritionist (ANutr) living in Tring. I work with clients in the Berkhamsted, Tring, Leighton Buzzard and Aylesbury areas, giving very personalised nutrition and healthy eating advice.
I absolutely love working in this targeted way with one-to-one clients because the success rate is so much better than if you give generic advice. I coach my clients to eat healthily in a way that fits their lifestyle and allows them to still enjoy their food. So absolutely no fad diets and no calorie counting.
As well as working as a nutritionist, I run, walk and cycle around the beautiful Chiltern Hills and I am the Treasurer at Chiltern Canoe Club, a friendly, local club that manages to get surprisingly high numbers of people kayaking, canoeing and paddleboarding.
You have an OBE for “Services to families” from your work growing the site Netmums. Other than achieving this accolade, what was the highlight of your time with Netmums?
My time at Netmums was very special because we developed the site organically as our children grew up. For the first decade all Netmums staff worked from home (we were ahead of the curve with home working) and we made sure it worked around our families. I developed the family food section of the site and my personal highlight was creating the Healthy Happy Family Eating course with the Department of Health which improved the cooking confidence of parents and made family eating more enjoyable. I also did a lot of campaigning to improve our food environment at home and in schools. I even got to meet Jamie Oliver!
What led you to set up Cathy Court Nutrition, and the areas you specialise in?
I wanted to move into the field of nutrition in my mid-twenties but wasn’t able to fund the necessary training and pay my mortgage. Years (decades!) later, once I’d left Netmums, I was finally in a position to do the Masters course. Cathy Court Nutrition followed hot on the heels of my graduation, showing that it is never too late to start a new career!
Now I focus mainly on mid-lifers (a very vague term which covers 40 to 70-year-olds) who want to make a different to their health by losing weight and reducing their risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, vascular dementia or type 2 diabetes. I also write articles on these subjects for local magazines and health charities.
What are the best & worst things about running your own business?
The best thing is that I’m doing exactly what I have wanted to do for years (my tag line should be ‘she got there in the end!’). Honestly, nutrition is my hobby so I’m sure I’d be keeping up with the science and talking non-stop on the subject even if I wasn’t working as a nutritionist.
On the down side, working as a nutritionist can be a solitary affair. You have your clients but you don’t have a team around you. I’ve got round this by developing my professional network through social media and also through working with my amazing mentor. Organisations such as Buzz Hub have been really helpful too, for getting to know other small businesses in the local area.
How can people work with you and where can we find you?
Do message me if you’d like to find out more about the service I offer, or if you’d like to explore linking up our services, I am very open to collaborations! I’m on Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin, or use the contact form on my website.
Favourite local place to eat & drink?
Tring Winery for drinking (you can sample their wines on a Friday night!) and Alford Arms, Frithdean and The Stag, Mentmore for eating.
Favourite local retailer (online or bricks & mortar)?
Almar are a fantastic local printing resource. They helped me with loads of printing during my Masters and now I pop in on a weekly basis to get my client resources laminated.
Favourite local day out?
I love the canal and the countryside around Tring so my favourite local day out would be a paddle to Little Tring (stand up paddleboard or kayak), a picnic lunch, then a walk along the Ridgeway in the afternoon. Rounded off by dinner in a local pub.
Shoutout to 3 local businesses who you love.
- Dunsley Farm shop for their fab selection of fruit and veg;
- Tring Brewery, you can smell the hops from our house on a good day;
- Vale Life Magazine as an actual physical glossy magazine. It’s local and it’s free!
You can find Cathy in our #ShopLocal Directory, and get more information about how you can work with her on her website.