A BASINGSTOKE woman has launched her own unique catering business after feeling bored of being at home during lockdown.

Holly Farnham was working as a travel rep when lockdown was announced in 2020, and she had to fly back home to Basingstoke as the travel industry shut down.

The 29-year-old started working for the NHS Test and Trace programme, but said she was bored sitting at home all day.

“My step-sister started a business making fudge and I was inspired by that,” explained Holly, adding: “I was spending more time on social media scrolling through Instagram and I came across a couple of businesses in Australia and American doing graze boxes and I thought they looked amazing.”

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Discovering there was nothing similar being offered in the Basingstoke area, Holly decided to experiment with making her own graze food boxes, which offer a selection of savoury and sweet foods, ideal for a lockdown treat.

Holly, from Chineham, made one for a family picnic before offering them online for people to order.

She soon built up a following on Instagram and now, a year after launching Let’s Graze Away, has expanded her business, creating graze tables for events including parties and christenings.

“It’s all about presentation and matching colours and placing everything precisely so it looks amazing,” she said, adding: “During lockdown people were ordering boxes as a treat when they couldn’t go out, or for Mother’s and Father’s Day. People gave them to family who they couldn’t see or who were self-isolating and used me to give a box to their mum or gran. That was nice feeling that I was connecting people when they couldn’t see each other.”

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However, Holly, who now works in recruitment, running Let’s Graze Away in her spare time, said the business has expanded to include larger graze tables, which she sets up for people at their party location.

She said: “I’ve done a 60th birthday and christening. It takes me around two hours to set up a graze table for 35 people, and that’s not including all the pre work beforehand, which takes around four hours, plus planning and shopping. There’s lots more behind the scenes, it goes on for days before the set up.”

Holly’s spectacular displays have drawn positive comments on social media from her followers, and she has ambitions to one day expand the business further.

But for now, she is happy to continue running Let’s Graze at evenings and weekends and said: “I’ve never been very good at sitting around. Working for Test and Trace wasn’t fulfilling me and I thought I’m not going out so rather than wasting my time watching TV I decided to do something productive. I feel like I’ve got something out of that time. I think it has the potential to grow further.”

You can find Let’s Graze Away on Instagram @letsgrazeaway_