Anna Ashmole

I manage the website, marketing and social media presence of Martin Swan Violins and am a co-director. My academic background is in philosophy, followed by a PhD about the motivations of organic farmers. I was employed by Edinburgh University as their interdisciplinary Environmental Co-ordinator and worked with the organic charity, The Soil Association, for fifteen years – including setting up and managing their devolved Scottish office. In 1995 I was a partner in establishing Scotland’s first secure ecommerce site. I was also a founding member of the ecological restoration project Carrifran Wildwood. In 2008 I took on my local village store in order to rescue and re-launch it. In 2010 Martin and I bought and developed an abandoned farmstead in rural Croatia – see Dobra River Studio. We sold that a few years ago and started renovating a house in a mountain village in Lunigiana, Italy.

In 2017 we bought the spectacular Avenue House in Wells, and restoring this iconic regency building occupied much of my time for several years; I later turned my attention to bringing life to the garden. In 2026 we moved to the Somerset countryside, and we are now embarking on creating modern extensions for living and working while preserving the character of the original house.

I have an impressionistic photo diary on Instagram, and my daughter and I collaborate on a recipe website – maggiesmacaroni.com. Contact me at anna@martinswanviolins.com.