About

After working as a Graphic Designer for over 20 years, I moved to a smallholding in a little village just outside the historic town of Shrewsbury for a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

The first thing I did was get two goats – ‘Billy & Lilly’. I had never kept goats before but I thought it must be pretty similar to keeping sheep, yes?! No, definitely not! Yes they eat grass but that’s where the similarities end! For those of you who don’t know much about goats apart from their bad reputation for eating anything and everything (which also is not true!) they are more like dogs than sheep, they love human company, they wag their tails when they’re happy, they each have their own character, they are very sensitive creatures and easily offended, and they HATE the rain!

The main reason I chose to keep goats was because I can’t tolerate cows’ milk and I’d heard how good goats’ milk is for you. I loved it! I made goats milk cheese, ice-cream (which is amazing!) and yoghurt but still had copious amounts of goats’ milk, and after reading about the amazing benefits of goats’ milk soap over commerical soaps for sensitive skin, I decided to go on a soap making workshop. After many many months of trial and error with my goat’s milk soap recipe, I started to get great feedback from friends & family and so decided to set up ‘Billy & Lilly’s’.

I make my soaps from scratch, everything from milking the goats every day by hand; designing the logo, packaging and painting the watercolour illustrations used on them; making my own soap moulds; making, cutting and stamping the soaps and then packing everything ready to sell once they’ve cured after 6 weeks.

I’m very lucky to be able to have a business that involves all the things I love; soap making, design and of course the goats!

Jo Green
Owner of Billy & Lilly’s