From Riddling Maggots to Halloweenville: Barbara Ikin

I’ll be honest with you. I booked Barbara Ikin to talk about Halloween.

What I got was one of the best stories about grit and running a family business that we’ve had in the studio this year.

Barbara runs Partridge Lakes in Culcheth, near Warrington. When I introduced her as a shining light among female entrepreneurs, she called it “a bold introduction”. By the end of the chat, I think she’d half come round to it.

Five generations on the same land

Barbara’s great-great-great-grandad farmed the land. Her dad turned it into fishing lakes around 1996, and Barbara took over in 2015. Sitting between Manchester and Liverpool, with the motorways on the doorstep, most visitors come from within about an hour and a half.

Although this year someone came over from Portugal for one of their events.

I’m still getting over that.

“She’ll never do it”

Match fishing has always been a very male world, and Barbara walked into it at 21, opening a tackle and bait shop when she knew next to nothing about fishing. “I don’t think people were super welcoming to my presence,” she said. That might be the most polite understatement I’ve heard on air.

She was up at 5am every morning riddling maggots, and for about five years she was the only woman on site. She heard plenty of “she’ll never do it” and “she’ll run it into the ground”, and still does.

Her answer was to keep her head down, work hard and never bite back. “Always take some on board,” she said, “but filter out the negativity.”

The bold move: no more open matches

Partridge Lakes was a serious name in match fishing, with anglers flying in from Europe to fish it. But the open match scene has been shrinking and getting more expensive. So this year Barbara stopped open matches and moved towards family-friendly fishing.

Not everyone was a fan. But families are now trying fishing for the first time, there’s coaching on site, and mums are reading on deckchairs while the kids fish.

What surprised her most about the fishing world? “That nothing is ever good enough.”

The grass can be perfect, the lake full of fish, and someone will still tell you to fill it in. Anyone in hospitality is nodding right now.

So… Halloweenville

It started in 2023 as a lakeside light trail. Then they added a storyline, and that’s when it really took off.

Now it’s like stepping into a storybook. You watch a show that sets up your quest, then head through the woods and around the lakes as the story builds, collecting a prize at the end. This year you’re making good magic to defeat the Ancient Skeleton King, who’s trying to take over Halloweenville.

It’s “spooky, not scary,” as Barbara puts it, with warm characters, a bit of grown-up humour for the parents, and live music from local artists while you toast marshmallows. Some of the actors are drama students who got their first job there and now come back every year.

The best bit for me? No screens, apart from photos.

Parents have written in reviews that their two- and three-year-olds stayed hooked for a whole hour. Our headteacher guests tell us all the time that’s exactly what kids need.

And it’s sold out, every night for the last couple of weeks.

Raising the next generation of founders

Barbara would never say it herself, so I will. She’s a role model. A few young women who’ve worked in her office have started their own businesses.

One of them, Ellie, opened a wedding dress shop and said she’d never have had the confidence without working alongside Barbara for five years.

Her advice for anyone starting out? Surround yourself with good people. Find someone, even part-time, you can turn to and ask, “Am I crazy, or are they?”

Find Partridge Lakes and Halloweenville

• Family fishing, the café and events: partridgelakes.co.uk
• Halloweenville: halloweenvilleuk.co.uk. This year’s sold out, but you can register your interest for next year now.

Barbara, thank you for coming in. I came for the Skeleton King and left with something much better.

Listen Again

Phil In The Morning is on Cheshire’s MIX56, Monday to Thursday, 10am–12 midday.