I woke up this morning to photos from our landlord at Gate Farm, where we make all the stock, showing the area in front of our unit has flooded. Luckily no water has entered, but as a precaution, he had gone in during the night and placed sandbags inside the door to be on the safe side.

So, a big relief and a lucky escape for us. We don’t store anything on the ground, but still having the unit filled with muddy water would have been a complete nightmare. I cannot imagine what it must be like for families when their homes are flooded.

It seems to have been a week of natural disasters as I also received a call from one of our glass suppliers telling me that they had experienced a fire in their warehouse and wouldn’t be able to deliver our order.

Both these events have prompted me to double check our insurance and think through how we would respond if disaster struck us. It remains a scary thought and one I hope never to experience.

Insurance is one of those costs that it’s easy to overlook or scrimp on as it can be costly. But my advice is to pay for the best you can afford and go for brand names that have a reputation to uphold and will be less likely to drag their feet when you need to make a claim. Any delay in the pay-out can be the difference between a business surviving a disaster or going bust as a result of it.

Preparing for the worst is something we should all remember. Justina teased me about the amount of kit I carried in my rucksack when out walking on a sunny day in Snowdonia, but the mountain conditions have a habit of changing rapidly and I would rather a heavier pack than being caught short in a serious situation.

Today I leave you with a quote by Colin Powell who learnt a thing or two about being prepared for anything, during his 35-year career in the army,

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”