About Us - Today

Thurlby Herb Farm has grown into a company that is the largest private employer in the Walpole district. The business has risen to the creative challenge of being financially successful, while maintaining a philosophy of environmental and family friendly values.

Establishing a wholesale business in the forest-country more than 400 kilometres south of Perth was not easy. The major markets were in the larger cities on the other side of country and it took considerable effort to overcome the reluctance of retailers in Sydney and Melbourne to buy from a remote rural business in South-west Australia.

Thurlby currently supplies over 900 retail outlets in Australia and exports local handmade products to many countries overseas. The distinctive products of Thurlby Herb Farm with their flavour of the giant forest of Australia are now sold as far a field as Tokyo, Singapore and Switzerland.

At the same time as developing the wholesale side of the business, we extended the Café and Gift Shop at the farm, for the growing tourist trade. The opening of the Valley of the Giants, Tree Top Walk not far from Thurlby, has put Walpole and the southern forests firmly on the map.

Visitors to Thurlby can enjoy garden fresh gourmet lunches, homemade cakes and rosemary scones. The Gift Shop is filled with exotic gifts from our travels around the world, as well as the complete range of soaps and aromatherapy products made at Thurlby.

True to our original idealism, we provide flexible working conditions to fit in with the difficulties of employees accessing medical, banking and other services locally. For someone living in the beautiful forests of Walpole a visit to the dentist or doctor may involve a round trip of 240 kilometres. When the local primary school assembly is held fortnightly, the Thurlby workrooms are virtually empty until 10 am! In previous years the primary school has even delayed the school concert so Thurlby staff members could get an urgent order in the post. Such is rural business life.