"We really believe that you have to start somewhere or we are going to lose an entire generation," Allanah Bourne-Arton co-founder of FLOW Yorkshire
It was while living in Hong Kong in their 20s that Allanah and Neil Bourne-Arton’s journey in well-being started. “Neil was working in post production television and I was working in property,” recalls Allanah. “Something happened and I started spiralling downwards and then I discovered spirituality through a boss of mine at the time, which was the start of mine, and then Neil’s, journey into wellbeing.
"We are all spirit , mind and body – it is all interconnected. We started to learn about toxicity and its relationship to emotion. We were in our early 20s living a pretty hedonistic lifestyle in Hong Kong, both with very stressful jobs working long hours and I now realise that one of the things that sent me spiralling downwards was the toxic lifestyle we were living.” She started getting panic attacks and knew she had to do something
Allanah and Neil met in Yorkshire in 1986, aged just 16 and 18. They forged their relationship and built a life together that would also take them to London, as well as Hong King where they got engaged.
They married in 1997 in Connemara, on the west coast of Ireland, at Renvyle House Hotel — formerly home to Allanah’s great-grandfather, the renowned Irish poet, novelist, surgeon and politician, Oliver St John Gogarty. When her father started working for the Jockey Club he moved the family over to Yorkshire. Allanah attended Ripon Grammar School and she met Neil, who was at Harrow, through a group of mutual friends.
"It was love at first sight,” says Allanah.
With backgrounds spanning property, corporate relocation, sound engineering, weddings and events, Allanah and Neil eventually chose to return to Yorkshire to raise their two sons, Luke and Finn, settling at Tanfield House where Neil had grown up..
Before the Bourne-Artons, the Crompton family lived at Tanfield House from the late 19th century into the early 20th century. Colonel Crompton became influential in the early development of electricity, making Tanfield House one of the first homes in Britain to be electrically illuminated. A charming reminder of the Crompton family remains today within Tanfield House, where the height etchings of the Crompton children, dating from 1881 onwards, are still carved into one of the original internal doors.
“When we came up from London my great aunt was living here so we initially lived in a farmhouse near Bedale,” says Neil. “We had two young boys which was our primary reason for moving out of London.” When his great aunt moved out they set about a major renovation of the house as nothing had been done since the seventies.
Both working freelance, they decided to open Tanfield House for small, intimate weddings which they did for around ten years. They were still practising their spiritual faith and leading a low a toxicity lifestyle as possible, and they brought their sons up in the same way.
"It’s all about balance. It’s about eating as cleanly as possible avoiding agrichemicals, petrochemicals and microplastics, using aluminium free deodorants and avoiding seed oils and high levels of sugar,” explains Allanah. They eat locally reared organic meat where possible, “We work on an 80:20 basis you are going to have levels of toxicity in your diet – it is virtually impossible to avoid it all together but the key is to avoid toxic load. It influences every functioning of the body, If there is an overload of microplastics, petrochemicals and agrichemicals the body doesn’t know what to do with it so it tends to store it in part of the body where it starts to accumulate and you see the rise in neurodiversity, infertility, depression and a lot of health issues – physical and emotional.
"The key with children is to make it a normal part of everyday life. Get them involved in the cooking and then it becomes part of their DNA. As they older and started school it was more challenging and of course they did resist it but they will eventually come back to it.”
But during their parenting journey, it became clear that one of their sons was experiencing emotional dysregulation and associated health and social challenges.
"Despite years of enquiries through the conventional medical and educational systems, it was not until the age of 14 that he received diagnoses of Autism and ADHD, by which time his self-esteem was on the floor and his nervous system was fixed in ‘fight, flight,” says Allanah.
While the diagnosis brought some clarity, the couple felt there remained little meaningful explanation or support regarding why these conditions occur, how symptoms could be supported, or how to optimise their son’s wellbeing and quality of life.
Determined to better understand the bigger picture, they began extensive independent research, exploring every possible avenue to understand the biological, environmental and nervous system factors that can influence neurodivergent conditions.
Over time — through persistence, professional training, trial and error, and many breakthroughs — their son began to thrive.
"Today he runs his own successful events company, following university graduation, and is a sought-after DJ embracing life with confidence and purpose,” says Allanah who is also a therapist and soul planner.
Throughout this journey, Allanah and Neil developed a deep trust in a more holistic and whole-body approach to health, witnessing significant changes within their own family.
"It’s never too late to change but the earlier the better. Neuropathways are very much effected by the environmental toxins.”
As they encountered increasing numbers of families facing similar challenges, they began sharing their knowledge and experiences to support others.
"We have spent 20 years working with neurodivergency, working out where it has come from and what we can do about it – it’s a lot about education. Now we want to pass that on to others. We have been overwhelmed by the response,” says Allanah. “People are just so grateful. Many parents are desperate and really struggling.
This has led to the creation of FLOW Yorkshire — the support system they themselves had once searched for. FLOW Yorkshire now provides understanding, guidance and nervous system-focused support to children, adults and families, helping people restore balance, build resilience and optimise wellbeing.
"There is a genetic predisposition so we do a lot of genetic testing so you can see the likely triggers. On top of the environmental factors we also have the rise in technology and increase in vaccinations at a very early stage of life.”
At FLOW they start by resetting the nervous system for everybody, then they bring in gut health with the help of a nutritionist, and a variety of therapies.
Allanah also teaches a version of tapping to children which helps them regulate their emotions and also asks the families to look at reducing their toxic load by looking at their cleaning and personal care products and the food they are buying.
They are determined to widen access by removing any barriers to this service by the establishment of the Flow Foundation, which aims to subsidise those with financial constraints.
"We want everybody to be able to access this and so we have just started fundraising.”
They are holding a Summer Celebration and family fun day at Flow Yorkshire on August 8, with proceeds going to the Flow Foundation Fund.
And they also have plans to create a wellbeing cafe in West Tanfield and helping people to grow their own organic food.
"We have big plans,” says Allanah. “It is exhausting but it is very fullfilling and we really believe that you have to start somewhere or we are going to lose an entire generation.”