Portfolio

Back in 2019, when the term furlough was an obscure legal term and when we all used to go out shopping without worrying too much about keeping our distance, we were approached by Halberton Court Farm Shop, based not too far from Tiverton, to create them a website.

Originally a successful farm, then local produce selling via an honest box at the end of the road, it soon became clear that there was the need for a local farm shop in the village of Halberton. The business has since expanded, with a new larger shop, offering an extended range of products, and a cafe on the site of the original shop. 

Today Halberton Court Farm Shop is so much more. There is the hugely popular and well established Pick Your Own Farm and the Swan's Neck Cafe. The vegetables grown on the farm are now sold exclusively at the Farm Shop with a wide range of locally sourced fruit, meat, dairy produce and other grocery items also available. The building had a face lift at the start of 2020, expanding the product range still further, and bringing the butchers and cafe into family ownership for the first time. 

They were also then bombarded with customers asking whether they had a website, enter Doive Designs. Development of the bespoke website was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which kept the Farm shop busy delivering fresh local produce to homes for the first time, but by July the website was ready to open to the public.

Whilst not an e-commerce website, the website does have quite and array of photographs covering almost all of the products that are on offer in the shop and means for the company to be contacted about products that are available.

Before Covid, we were approached by an existing client to create a new website for an Inn they were taking over the management for.

The Plymstock Inn in Plymstock near Plymouth in South Devon, is a modern, family and dog friendly pub with traditional values situated in the very heart of Plymstock. Whether you’re catching up with friends, popping out for food or even planning a special family occasion, The Plymstock is probably the place for you.

The new business website uses the universally popular Wordpress content management system which means that it is simple and easy to update. The relaunch of the website in 2020 was delayed slightly by the lockdown but was launched upon the loosening of restrictions in the Summer of 2020. Check out the website for yourself here: www.plymstockinn.co.uk

Hebron Hall is a Christian retreat centre in Dinas Powys, near Cardiff and Barry in South Wales. With 7.5 acre grounds, a swimming pool, sports hall, tennis courts and conference facilities, this is a perfect place for a weekend away. The site has been under our charge since the start of 2008 and was initially relaunched early in 2009. Since then the website has been redeveloped three times with major new versions in 2012, 2016 and 2020. In the most recent incarnation the website has become much more simplified, with big scrolling photos and is of course, still mobile and tablet friendly.
www.hebronhall.org

At Doive Web Design we love doing work for good causes, so when we had the opportunity to work on a website for a Tiverton Girl Guide Unit, we jumped at the chance (of course, it helps that the unit is run by Dave's wife).

The website for the 5th Tiverton Guides is largely members only, so the general public only have access to very limited resources, as you might expect since child protection is involved.

Within the members only section, however, the guides and their parents/guardians have access to resources, photos from past events and badgework.

As with a lot of our websites, this one is totally bespoke with some new systems created especially for the guides. Over time we also hope to add a forum section and other resources for the girls to use. The members only section was especially useful during the 2020 UK lockdown which involved a "camp at home" badge.

You can see the Guides website for yourselves here: www.5thtivertonguides.co.uk (though there isn't that much to see publicly as I mentioned).

Hope Church, Cadoxton (formerly Cadoxton Methodist Church) are a lively and active church based in Cadoxton, near Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan. They have members of all ages from babies to people in their 90s. Running regular meetings for such a diverse group of people means that they are a really busy church, so their site needed to reflect that. They are a modern congregation and as such they wanted a modern looking site, a site which they needed to be able to access themselves. So the site is based upon our bespoke content management system and went live on 1st July 2011.

Update: We originally built the website back in 2011, redeveloped the website in 2015 to make it mobile friendly and then again in January 2020 when the church formerly changed their name making the site fully mobile friendly and giving it a new look. www.cadoxton.org.uk

New Leaf Custom Woodwork are based in South Wales, just North of Cardiff in Rhydyfelin, are run by Kurt Pittner a skilled local carpenter. Kurt specialises in all kinds of carpentry from ornate trinket boxes to bespoke cupboards and radiator covers.

His website is a bespoke ecommerce one, allowing him to sell pre-made or to order items online as well as to enable customers to book his services for on-site instalations.

Check out his new website at: www.newleafcustomwoodwork.co.uk

St Albans Arts Club was started in 1955 for a small group of friends who enjoyed gong to concerts in London. More than 60 years later it is still going strong:every month there are trips to the theatre or a concert. These include 6 evening concerts by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall and matinee theatre trips to regional theatres.

In 2019, they approached Doive Web Design to create them their first website with the aim of reaching some of the younger generations. The brief was to create a website that would allow members to easily book for future events, and to allow new members to sign up online. So using our bespoke CMS we created a mobile-friendly website complete with booking system and members area.

We hope you like the website which you can see here: www.stalbansartsclub.org.uk

We'd already been working with Tiverton Canal Co for a few years when they asked us if we could help them to redesign and redevelop their website. Tiverton Canal Co run one of the last horse drawn barges in the country along with the truly unique Ducks' Ditty floating cafe-bar and devon boat hire (with canadian canoes and rowing boats to hire), all on the beautiful Grand Western Canal. The brief was simple, to make the website easier to update, fully mobile friendly but not to loose the look and feel of the previous one. Here's how Philip Brind, who owns and runs Tiverton Canal Co described the new website at it's launch:

Listening to feedback, a lot of people wanted the site to work as well on a phone as it does on a PC.

Many also called or an easy-to-use Menu list (taking you straight to your destination). As well as the new website focusing on the Horse-Drawn Barge, Ducks Ditty Bar, Boat Hire and Shop... it has a very informative Links Page, Grand Western Canal page and Canal history page, Canal Maps, and lots of Pictures, Videos and Downloads.

We all very much hope that you enjoy our new website 😊 do please let us know what you think....

We would like to go on record and thank David from Doive Designs, who has been incredibly patient with us but has designed and built what we think is an incredible website that can be used easily but at the same time being fun and informative!.. David comes highly recommended ...

So, if you're near Exeter, Taunton or Barnstaple and you are looking for things to do in Mid Devon, make sure you visit the Tiverton Canal website and check out one of Devon's best local attractions.

Devon based Optimum Brasses was founded in 1981 by Robert Byles, an antique dealer and restorer, who had been collecting original brass fittings from the 17th - 19th Century, since 1966. Unhappy with the authenticity of reproduction brass available on the market at the time, he began researching ways to ‘clone’ original pieces. Following this research, it was decided that lost wax casting was the best method to achieve his desired results; Optimum Brasses was born.

Since then they have grown into a successful business in Bampton selling quality brass all over the world, and pieces have even been used in Hollywood productions like the recent live action remake of Beaty and the Beast.

We were aproached by the team at Optimum Brasses a few years ago to help them keep the website updated and with maintenance but when they decided to revamp the website in 2019 we were more than happy to help. The website uses the ever popular Wordpress CMS system including the WooCommerce e-commerce system.

See it for yourself and place maybe even place an order at: www.optimumbrasses.co.uk

One of the many projects we've been developing over the past year or so is a new tool for Independent Local Businesses that we have called "Un-chained". Un-chained is a platform that allows customers to find an independent business close to them. Whether that's an independent coffee shop, restaurant, decorator or a financial advisor... we're here for you.

If you're an independent small business, which we define as any business that is privately owned and does not have more than 5 stores (or locations), then you can sign up for free at: www.un-chained.co.uk.