IN Good Company
These are the people we know and love. We have worked with them, we trust them, we recommend them.
Steve Guinness
AKA The Brick Consultant and LEGO builder extraordinaire.
AKA The Brick Consultant and LEGO builder extraordinaire.
Steve was a secondary school Design and Technology Teacher for 18 years, but in 2017 her entered and won the Channel 4 TV competition “Lego Masters”.
This was a fantastic experience, and ultimately it gave Steve confidence to give up teaching and set up his own business.
Today he is self-employed, making bespoke models with LEGO bricks, as well as running workshops and activities to educate and inspire with hands on learning.
We worked with Steve at Summer Camp bu The Good Life Society in 2021, where he helped guests build their own models of Hawarden Castle’s Walled Garden!
Image: Department TwoSome good recipes to try.
Welsh Sisters Gin
Artisan gin distilled and infused in Wales.
Welsh Sisters Ltd is a small artisan gin company.
The team make award winning gins based on stories of women and the sea. What a great combination!
This lovely gin is distilled and infused in Wales.
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Jake Brewer - Studio Brewer
Design and lettering, with amazing character.
Jake is an adventurous designer, illustrator & letterer based in Bristol.
We have commissioned Jake for a few projects across our businesses, mainly at Glen Dye Cabins and Cottages. Get in touch with Jake for design with some serious character.
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Ploterre
Exploring the natural world through mathematics and design.
Limited edition prints of environmental data brought to life through a combination of mathematics and design by Rebecca J Kaye
You can spot a Ploterre print in most locations around Glen Dye Cabins and Cottages, they are a real favourite of ours.
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Mark McKellier
Wood type fonts, ornaments, borders and replacement letters for printers.
Mark McKellier is a graphic designer with 30 years of experience in design for print. Mark now uses his love of typography, patterns and letterpress printing to design and make wood type fonts, ornaments, borders and replacement letters for printers who are ‘out of sorts’.
With a collection of over 50 cases of wood type and three printing presses (including a Harrild Pullmaster Proofing Press that used to belong to Her Majesty's Stationery Office) Mark originally made wood type for himself to replace missing letters, before realising he wasn’t the only printmaker with that problem. Combining modern CNC cutting technology with traditional methods (including a restored 1960’s Funditor printer’s table saw) he aspires to produce wood type to the standards of Delittle and Day & Collins.
Contact Mark for commissions and collaborations via his website.
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Toucan Tango
A printmaking, illustration and design duo based in New Brighton.
Toucan Tango is a printmaking, illustration and design duo (trio if you count Pip the dog) based in New Brighton. They print from their home studio and produce screenprinted gifts to make you smile.
Expect a range of art prints and gig posters. As well as everything from pin badges, coasters and pillows.
They only print on 100% recycled card and have started to explore making thier own paints from organic materials like coffee.
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Earl of East
An eco-candle and lifestyle brand, with creativity and community at its core.
Earl of East is a lifestyle brand with creativity and community at its core.
Founders, Paul Firmin & Niko Dafkos began hand pouring scented candles from their East London home as a side hustle in 2015.
Their soy wax candles are vegan friendly and made sustainably in their East London studio. All of their candles are crafted using bespoke blends of the finest botanical fragrance and essential oils. They are made out of non-GMO eco wax and self-trimming cotton wicks, ensuring a clean burn and excellent throw.
Alongside candles, they have also launched an eco bathing range that includes scent, bath salts, essential oil blends and aromatherapy sprays.
Their business has four main pillars, of which we thoroughly resonate with: create, curate, collaborate and community.
They support independent brands and curate workshops and events that connect with the local community.
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Kingsley Walters Studio
London based designer and maker, specialising in leather goods, canvas bags and homeware.
Kingsley Walters is a London based designer and maker, specialising in leather goods, canvas bags and homeware.
Introduced to us via Mark Shayler and his Reasons to Be Cheerful talks.
Kingsley makes practical and durable pieces by hand, utilising traditional methods. Kinsley merges his Jamaican heritage with traditional British handcrafting techniques to produce thoughtful and unique items. His leather goods are hand-cut and stitched with beeswax coated thread. He uses locally sourced materials purchased in London and traceable to their source.
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Two Fields Zakros
Small batches of olive oil produced in harmony with nature.
Single origin, small batch, extra virgin olive oil; produced with a respect and knowledge of ancient craft and with a focus on soil and microbes.
Founded by brothers Harry and Will, Two Fields Zakros produce small batch olive oil using regenerative farming methods. When Harry fell in love and moved to Zakros, he discovered a community producing some of the worlds finest olive oil. But they saw a beautiful generational craft, strained by a broken food system and conventional farming.
They believe in another way. A small scale, regenerative approach producing small batches of delicious olive oil in harmony with nature.
So, with no farming background but a deep desire to learn from the land and guided by the patient hand of honed farmers, they became unlikely apprentices and self taught regenerative farmers.
Will has spoken about his journey to Two Fields and of regenerative agriculture at The Good Life Experience. You can find their incredible olive oil at The Farm Shop on Hawarden Estate.
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Tom Frost
Prints and objects inspired by old match boxes, vintage tin toys, folk art, children’s books and stamps.
Tom Frost’s work is inspired by a passion for old match boxes, vintage tin toys, folk art, children’s books and stamps. Utilising screen printing, plywood, vintage Meccano, acrylic paint, Gocco machines and perspiration, Tom creates items that people will cherish for years to come.
A long time friend of The Good Life Society and Some Good Ideas, Tom Frost has produced brilliant Good Life Experience festival posters for us for many years.
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Village Circus
Creative event producers, designers of unique tiny spaces, canvas canopies, camper vans and vintage restorations.
Based on the Welsh Borders, Village Circus are creative event producers, designers of unique tiny spaces, canvas canopies, camper vans and vintage restorations.
With a truly unique offering, Village Circus is a bounty of creativity. They sold us the Showman’s caravan, an original 1950’s Pilot (that was first owned by the touring circus troupe, Duo Russmar) and eventually lovingly restored by Village Circus duo, Willo and Lex. The Showman’s caravan now resides at Glen Dye and is available to guests.
They made a bespoke canopy for Hawarden Estate Farm Shop and hand-made canopies for Glen Dye, too. They’ll also be making one for Summer Camp. Trusted by us, Village Circus supports British manufacturing and sustainable production.
Contact them for brilliant ideas, perfectly executed.
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Tor Workshop
Provenance led furniture and turned wooden vessels, bowls and platters, hand-crafted in Braemar, Scotland.
Provenance led furniture and turned wooden vessels, bowls and platters, hand-crafted in Braemar, Scotland.
Like most good businesses, Tor Workshop started as a sideline project of maker and designer, Tom Addy’s construction business (they were the construction managers on the Fife Arms renovation). At the end of 2020, Tom took the leap towards taking his passion project full-time. Tor Workshop creates traditional Highland Scottish furniture, unique and often bespoke, using locally sourced wood from the surrounding area of Braemar, Scotland.
To get in touch with Tom, follow the link below to contact him via Instagram.
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Wye Valley Meadery
The oldest alcohol in the world, brewed to suit a modern palette, created in harmony with nature and utilising the flavours of the local landscape.
Combining their love of nature with their interest in brewing, brothers Kit and Matt founded Wye Valley Meadery.
Wye Valley Mead has taken the word’s oldest form of alcohol and given it a modern twist. Creating an innovative drink; light, refreshing and rich in flavour, but also steeped in history.
The mead is brewed in their purpose-built meadery in Chepstow, with honey from their bees from the Wye Valley, an area well known for its natural beauty and excellent biodiversity.
They have created a mead that you can enjoy in the same way as a beer, cider or sparkling wine, brewed to a lower alcohol level than a typical mead and bottled to achieve a delicate sparkle. Their infusions of seasonal flavours provide something truly unique and a real flavour of the local area.
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Workhouse England
British sartorial clothing manufactures who prize British fabrics, deadstock and heritage mills.
Workhouse England has been manufacturing sartorial British clothing for twenty years, but their designs and inspiration goes back over a hundred.
Using British cloth, deadstock and working with traditional British mills; Workhouse looks for materials with a story. They prize sustainability and work to build local supply chains. They take pride in their capabilities in-house, such as fabric dyeing, printing, and their pattern cutter who trained at Huntsman on Savile Row. Workhouse evokes authenticity that bridges the traditional and the contemporary through complete thoroughness.
They made our exceptional Workwear Jackets with the same care and precision they achieve with everything they do. We could not have found a more like-minded manufacturer to partner with.
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The Italian Ghillie
Federica Bertolini takes groups on walking expeditions around the Aberdeenshire countryside, provides delicious picnics of wild and foraged foods. She has extensive knowledge of the land and teaches her guests about the local environment.
Federica Bertolini takes groups on walking expeditions around the Aberdeenshire countryside. She provides delicious picnics of wild and foraged foods and teaches her guests about the local environment and the surrounding flora and fauna.
Federica previously worked as the General Manager for The Fife Arms. Federica’s passion for the Scottish landscape and the produce it has to offer is infectious. Since founding The Italian Ghillie, she works to share her knowledge of the local environment and small businesses doing good work, whilst removing Scotland’s stereotype of the land of deep-fried Mars bars! Contact Federica via the link below.
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Huddersfield Screenprinting Co
Huddersfield Screenprinting Co is an independent design and screenprinting studio based in West Yorkshire.
Huddersfield Screenprinting Co is an independent design and screenprinting studio based in West Yorkshire.
They offer a bespoke printing service, specialising in hand screen-printed t-shirts, sweatshirts, bags, aprons, accessories, art prints and posters.
They expertly screen-printed the design on the Hawarden Estate Farm Shop uniform, which we L.O.V.E.
With backgrounds in fashion and graphic design and a passion for screenprinting, they originally started out by printing t-shirts in their garden shed. Several versions of home-made kit later, they now run a fully equipped screenprinting studio from the top floor of an old Victorian textile mill, with their small but talented team.
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Grace Regan
Grace is the founder and owner of the critically acclaimed SpiceBox curry house in Walthamstow. A homage to British Indian curry-house cuisine and traditional, Indian home cooking.
Grace Regan is the founder and owner of the critically acclaimed SpiceBox curry house in Walthamstow.
Grace’s first street food stall was opened in 2016 in Druid St Market with the aim of bringing meat-free lunch to the masses. She earned a cult following thanks to the comforting dhals and tandoori cauli steaks. Later she joined Kerb and traded at street food markets across London and food festivals around the country.
She opened the first SpiceBox curry house in Walthamstow in Jan 2019. Her plan to pay homage to British Indian curry-house cuisine and traditional Indian home cooking in equal measure, bringing a vibrant sustainable dining option to high streets up and down the country.
Grace’s writing has been published in the Guardian and Huffington Post and she was longlisted for the BBC Food Rising Star Award. She now lives in Margate so she can swim in the sea every day. Grace is opening a second SpiceBox early next year, along with a retail range of SpiceBox products, which will be hitting shelves nationwide.
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Romy Gill MBE
Romy Gill MBE is a chef, food writer and broadcaster who appears regularly on some of Britains best-loved cooking shows.
Romy Gill MBE is a chef, food writer and broadcaster. A chef on BBC Ready Steady Cook and makes regular appearances on Sunday Brunch, BBC The One Show, BBC Country Life and BBC Celebrity MasterChef.
Romy is a force to be reconded with, extremely talented and infectiously positive.
Her debut cookbook released in September 2019, Zaika - vegan recipes from India, is still one of our strong favourites.
A well-loved regular to The Good Life Experience, Romy famously joined us for the virtual ‘At Home’ 2020 edition, where she demonstrated her cooking skills on a campfire within Hawarden Old Castle.
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Jeanette Orrell
Jeanette Orrel is an artist and indigo dying expert based in Wales.
Jeanette Orrell is an artist based in Wales whose work is inspired by the natural world and household objects. Jeanette received an Arts Council of Wales award in 2017, which allowed her to travel to Japan and learn techniques of katazome, shibori and indigo dyeing.
We worked with Jeanette on our workwear jackets, where she expertly dyed the natural organic cotton and hemp fabric with indigo.
You can purchase Jeanettes’ work including indigo dyed hankerchiefs, indigo tempera drawings, indigo dyed shibori wool scarfs via her website linked below.
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