Welcome to my blog page.
21 July 2007
The start of my blog.....
Well, it's been a hectic week so far with lots of local shops all wanting deliveries in time for the start of the summer holidays. Must try and keep up!!
Met a lovely lady yesterday called Caroline Hanbury-Bateman who runs a lovely Bed and Breakfast cottage in Shapwick, which is only about 10 minutes away. She has bought some of my guest soaps for the rooms and also some of my full-size bars to sell to her guests. She makes wonderful skincare creams, having 40 years experience at it! www.profileskincare.co.uk
Have also put advert up in town advertising for outworkers to wrap my soaps as my main outworker and trusted friend Fay needs a break. I'm really pleased as I've had 7 enquiries and have met one nice lady this morning who is keen to work for me!
24th August
Things worked out pretty well following my local adverts for outworkers and I now have two women who have taken on the work on a part-time basis. They are Sue and Joan and are both lovely! Last week I was away for a week in Cornwall for a much needed rest. While I was away, I received several trade enquiries so must follow those up asap!
I'm still pondering over whether to get some workshop premises. I'm going to see some at the beginning of September in Bleadon which isn't too far, so I'll see what they are like.
3rd September
Have decided against the premises - it just seems such a big scary decision and I have to say I like my "comfort zone" working from home...! Received a lovely email from Ellie and her farm shop in Sweden - this is what she said..
I've just checked out Ellie's blog page http://britinsweden.blogspot.com , it looks lovely!
Here is a picture of her farm shop - nice eh?
19th January 2008
Happy New Year to you all! It feels like ages since I've added to the blog so sorry!!
The Christmas season was amazing this year - the shows were really good fun and I met some lovely people at them. I took a couple of weeks off over the Christmas holidays which was great, but it was also good to get back into the swing of it by new year. I have been busy making batches of soap, many of which are still in the curing stage - hence several soaps from the range are "out of stock" until they have finished curing.
I've got some new soaps planned for this year, so keep an eye out for news of them coming soon!
9th April 2008
Phew! All the soaps are now back in stock again and I've got a couple of new varieties - Heather & Honey is one, and Jasmine & Gardenia is the other. My other new soap in the pipeline is my new favourite, it's fab!! It's called Lemon and Cedarwood, and it's made with lemongrass, lemon verbena and anchored with cedarwood as a base note - I can't wait for it to finish curing so I can try it out myself!!
I've also decided to join my local farmers market, probably starting in June. I've kept some loaves of soap back, so that I can cut them on the stall to what my customers want. They will be unwrapped but even better value for money! I'm hoping to join the farmers market in Axbridge, Somerset soon, so I'll let you know when I get a definite date.
3rd June 2008
What a wet and grotty Spring Bank holiday we had here in the West Country! Unfortunately Sherborne Country Fair was cancelled due to the weather, which was a great shame.
The lemongrass and cedarwood soap is going really well and I've made a second batch already. I'll try and add it to the online shop as soon as I get a moment!
I've also got some lovely new fabric on order for my Milk and Honey soap which should be arriving around August time. The Christmas soap fabrics have also been ordered and they should be gorgeous! I always get quite excited when new fabrics arrive. (A bit sad, I know)
I'm afraid I have decided against doing a farmers market just at the moment as I'm already so busy with the summer shows coming up as well as keeping my stockists well supplied. So sorry to any customers who were hoping to see me at Axbridge.
My soaps and other products will shortly be available to buy from Buckfast Abbey shop, so keep a look out if you are down in Devon. It is an amazing place, so I would definitely recommend a visit! www.buckfast.org.uk