Mrs B is a very lucky girl. Not only does she have a fantastically generous, handsome and of course modest husband ;-0 but she also has a habit of winning competitions. Computers, TV’s, subscriptions – she has won them all in the time we have been together. However her latest win is something that she really really wanted… and is British made.

Last weekend we went to visit Pilgrim Harps in South Godstone, Kent. Emily knows of this instrument maker of old as she learnt to play the harp, on an instrument hired from them, many moons ago. Unfortunately she was forced to give up this much loved past time but all the time I have known her has hankered after getting back on a harp again. However, with prices starting at £2500 it is an expense too far for us.

Our visit to Pilgrim coincided with their open day in which we undertook a tour of their manufacturing facilities. Founded in 1980, they produce fantastic quality and rather beautiful harps – from the large gilt concert instruments you maybe familiar with to smaller Celtic harps that are a little more practical for the casual player.   Emily really was like a kid in a candy store as we walked around their facilities and she and Lucan played the instruments. There was even something to hold my interest, as they had an impressive collection of old woodworking tools and machinery.

Anyway, on our way out the door Emily completed a form to win 3 months harp hire and thought nothing more of it. That is until later in the week when she got the call saying that she had won. A rather stunning celtic harp now had temporary pride of place in our living room… along with our piano, cello, violin, 6 guitars and numerous amps. Needless to say, a harp does nothing for the space limitations of our house!

We are always interested to hear of any instrument makers in the UK but sadly they are few and far between. A special mention must be given to Cavendish pianos. The UK’s only remaining piano maker. Please vote for them in the Classic FM best Acoustic Piano Awards here.

However, if you know of any instruments makers in the UK please leave a comment.

– James

We have generally struggled with buying linens made in the UK. Things like towels, bedsheets and duvet covers are things which we simply have not found yet as part of our project to survive on only British made goods. We have obviously survived well on our existing stock but they are admittedly getting a little beyond their use-by date. While this search continues imagine my surprise when I found British made pillows in our local Waitrose! I must admit that I would not normally have even bothered to check them out, assuming  that they would have been made in Turkey, Bangladesh or alike. However, while passing, out of the corner of my eye I noticed the Union Flag on the packaging. Intrigued I picked them up and sure enough – Made in the UK was proudly printed thereon. This, for us, would have been enough to make the purchase but at only £15 per pair of pillows there was little doubt they were going to bed with me tonight 😉

We keep saying this, and I am sure that it is getting to the point were you think they are paying us, but Waitrose never cease to amaze us with their genuine effort to buy British. Where many other stores talk the talk and put out their guff press releases extolling the virtues of their buy British policies, Waitrose just quietly gets on with it.

– Emily

It is not something many women are pleased to admit but I am one whose hair colour is not my own. I know shock horror but really it has been the same copper colour now for so many years that it might as well be my natural one.

If you have ever dyed your hair you will know that if you find a colour you like, it is important to stick with that colour so that each time you cover up the roots the colour is matched up. For anyone not following our challenge this would be pretty simple, write down your brand and colour code and buy the same each time. However when my reserve 2 hair dyes of the correct colour ran out in April the hunt was on to find a replacement.

A quick tweet and a very hopeful prospect surfaced, a company called Tints of Nature. They are a British company with all their products made in the UK as well. Not only this but the dyes are suitable for vegetarians and vegans and are ammonia free, something that was a real relief as when you dye your own hair there is nothing worse than the ammonia getting in your eyes as you apply.

The fab folk at Tints of Nature helped me to work out which colour I needed as the off the shelf ones were not bright enough for me. They said that I would need to mix two colours together to achieve the shade I was after. This was not something I am used to and I will admit I was pretty nervous at getting it pretty wrong.

However 2 nights ago I faced my fear and mixed up the concoction as instructed and applied as per the included instructions. The pack was clear and the clarifying shampoo was a nice way to start the colouring process. The smell of the dye was really actually nice which was a surprise as normally it is pretty nasty. What I really liked was the fact that there was a dying cap included to wear as the dye developed which was great to keep the dye on my hair and not on my clothes.

The end result was really pretty good and while it is still a little dark for my liking, I am pretty impressed by the overall colour and the coverage. The only thing I would say is that there isn’t the usual sparkle that I get from my normal dye but that is a small price to pay for it being British.

I would well recommend anyone who joins me in tinting their hair to give Tints of Nature a go and if they don’t have a colour that’s quite right give them a shout, they really are very helpful.

-Emily

Those that follow our blog will know that one if the things that I have found painful finding made in Britain is tools, of any sort. Remarkably, for me, I have gone without restocking my workshop/man-cave/shed for all of this time… until this weekend. I needed some new g-clamps for holding some of the leather work I am currently producing and selling through Folksy. Not expecting to find anything, I spent a whole evening trawling the net and eventually found Linic (http://www.linic.co.uk). They make small moulded plastic tools and accessories, including a range of clamps. I bought 6 different sized clamps for just £5, which is pretty good value. Yes, the clamps are pretty light-weight but they are perfect for what I am going to use them for.

One thing to note though is that this business suffers from the same level of poor marketing that I am becoming all to accustomed to seeing. I found them only after about 3 hours of trawling the net for them, they sell only through Ebay (I had to call them) and their website is like it was built in 1992. I see these issues all too often and am genuinely tempted to call them and say that I will sort these issues out for them. As a professional marketing-guy I would do it for free, it annoys me that much!

Anyway, I have now had my fix of tool buying for now, but it will not be long before I need another hit.

– James

As some of our regular followers might have picked up, I am an avid biker. I even commute 50 miles every day into London on my motorbike. Often when I tell people this their first reaction is “Are you crazy?” or “ Isn’t that dangerous?”. However, not only do I find public transport into London unreliable, expensive and uncomfortable but I genuinely enjoy riding to and from work. I am sure that there are not many people who can say they enjoy their commute as much. I also own a growing collection of motorcycles too, almost all of which are in pieces in my shed waiting for me to attempt to put them back together.

That being said, I am also incredibly unlucky with motorcycles and this trend of bad fortune has recently lead to my biggest British purchase so far.

I recently broke down on my way home from work only to spend 2 and a half hours on the hard shoulder of the motorway waiting for the AA to turn up. The issue was simple – a snapped chain on my 18 month old Italian bike (I will not name the manufacturer as this story gets worse and I do not want this post to be about having a dig). The AA eventually go the stricken bike to garage (yes – I could have repaired something so simple myself but the bike was still under warranty so I did not want to touch it) and some time later I received a call from a rather solemn sounding mechanic. He proceeded to tell me that there were multiple issues with the bike and that repair was going to cost me £1500, the repair was not covered by the warranty… and they could not use British made parts.

This bike was simply not worth the investment so I have had to trade it in and count my losses (which were considerable). I spent some frantic hours looking for a suitable British made replacement straight away. The choices were limited. CCM and Norton do not make practical commuters so it was going to have to be a Triumph. Narrowing the search down further I decided upon the Triumph Tiger Explorer which is being billed as almost bullet proof! If it lasts more than 2 years in my hands without blowing up, melting down or generally falling apart I will be very willing to agree to this being fact, for the time being however, I am sceptical. Anyhow, this was about my best option from a very limited list to choose from.

I took delivery of my new motorcycle on Monday and I must admit that it is a fantastic machine but I am conscious that I do not want this to become a review of the bike itself so I will stop there.

If you were to ask me if this is the bike I would have chosen if it were not for our project, then I would have to honestly answer no. I would likely have gone for a Yamaha and certainly something far cheaper.

However, this is our most extravagant British purchase… so far.