We were buying out a partner on a farm in Dorset and had taken out a large mortgage to fund it. We needed life insurance policies to accompany that and Dave Collins at Cullen Wealth was recommended to us as a specialist in the area of personal protection.

As well as a farm, Washingpool has a farm shop, restaurant and holiday accommodation. There are three of us involved as partners in the business; my Mum, my sister and myself, while my wife, my Dad and my brother-in-law work on the farm. My wife and I have four kids and my sister and her husband have two. As you can imagine, handling all the life insurances involved with the mortgage was quite a complex affair. Dave handled it all so that the relevant policies are in place to protect our mortgage repayments.

”Dorset might seem quite a distance from the North West but this has proved no barrier. Dave comes down to visit us on a regular basis and I also feel I can always pick up the phone or send a text if I have a query. In our view, we felt the knowledge was there at Cullen Wealth so it was worth acting on our friend’s recommendation to go with the best.

Our location means we do well from the tourist trade. The BBC drama Broadchurch was also filmed on site, which has given us an extra claim to fame and was an exciting time as we got to know the cast.

After Dave had arranged our life insurances, he also looked at our pensions to make sure they were working as hard as they could be. He’s also advised other members of the family. Obviously, my Mum is at a different life stage to my sister and me so he has been giving her more advice on the drawdown aspect of her pension. Being confident that everything regarding the farm is covered means we can now look at how best to invest for the future.

Dave is really personable, friendly and easy to get on with. I think that counts for a lot in a business relationship.