The Travelling Bee Co.
The Travelling Bee Company first started beekeeping in the urban fringes of the counties of Tyne and Wear and Northumberland and also now have hives in Scotland in the beautiful county of Argyll and Bute to take advantage of the natural, wild heather.
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All of their bees are homed in quality hives in beautiful locations giving you the benefits of their skills in obtaining the highest quality natural nectar and pollen.
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Mark, their main beekeeper, grew up with a great interest in all aspects of wildlife and the environment. He developed a practical knowledge of the countryside and beekeeping and went on to study insects at University.
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Their raw, unprocessed honeys are now winning awards nationally.
art4deb
Deborah Fox is a full time artist based in Hexham, Northumberland, working from the Fox Family home garden studio. She hand makes unique gifts in mixed media utilising mainly crackled silverleaf, ink tints, Scottish beach cobbles and epoxy clay. Wherever possible Deborah tries to reuse or upcycle materials.
Deborah loves using mixed media and the ability it provides to blend new and natural materials together to create her distinctive style. The scope of work is ever evolving. Deborah enjoys developing new ideas and can make to commission. She feels that it’s a privilege to be able to lovingly craft gifts that give people enjoyment.
Snail Trail
Gail Stonley creates beautiful bespoke items from natural materials. Her school nickname "Snail" has now become her signature trademark, with all her items labelled with the pictured logo.
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She specialises in felt creations, with her mushrooms and snails proving extremely popular with customers at the centre. A versatile artist, her other products include felted notebook covers (all from British wool), cards, small sewn items, wreaths of paper leaves, and other bits crafted from materials she gathers herself.
Lolla Mac
Based in rural Northumberland, I design and handcraft jewellery using sterling silver and mixed metals, in a simple, contemporary style.
I became hooked after a silversmithing course in 2015 where I learnt to transform some plain sheet metal or wire into a piece of wearable art.
I continue to use traditional silversmithing techniques on my raw materials to produce each piece. Working with sterling silver, copper and brass, this ‘mixed-metals’ look has become a signature of my brand. My style is simple, clean and minimalist.
I have also registered my maker’s mark with the London Assay office, who hallmark my work in accordance with UK legal requirements.
Hagg Hill Glass
Working with all types of glass, Rena Holford uses many different methods and techniques to create individual pieces. Her work varies from small items such as tiny mice, to wall mounted art and large installations such as a life size horse currently being displayed at Bamburgh castle.
Edinburgh Castle, Durham Cathedral and Blair Castle are part of a series of historic buildings using the latest techniques in glass cutting, each piece is water jet cut them given its own individual texture and colour. The glass can be fired multiple times depending on the colors and design, this making every piece individual.
FairKind Child
Fairkind Child is an independent family owned childhood shop in Horsham, West Sussex. We specialise in providing families with locally & globally handmade baby & children’s games, toys and other items which are fair to the hand crafters who produce them and kind to the environment and the children & parents who enjoy their use.
FairKind Child is the creation of Trish Fitzroy, an earthy mother of a gentle little boy, Corlee. Trish is passionate about all things fair and kind on earth. She is a lover of people, animals and worldly resources and believes passionately that all these things can be protected whilst producing educational, creative and imagination inspiring children’s products.
Val Scully
Local author Val Scully lives in Blaydon and has been involved with the Land of Oak & Iron project since its inception. She published her first book, Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree, in 2012.
When the Land of Oak & Iron project came along, she quickly became fascinated by the social history of the whole valley and set up the Land of Oak & Iron Local History Portal. In 2018, she published Molly Bowes, using a fictional character to tell the C19th history of this special place.
With other members of the Land of Oak & Iron Trust, Val produced a new edition of Men of Iron. She is currently working on a history of the Gibside woods and estate families.
Northern Sky Design
Artist Natalie Yates of Northern Sky Design has enjoyed learning about and making glass as a hobby for over 10 years. Nat loves the way colour works with glass, for her this is a great medium to express her creativity. Glass has a luminosity rarely achieved with other materials and it is Nat’s objective to develop pieces of art that can enhance your environment and make you smile. Inspired by iconic landmarks, Natalie has created a series of pen and ink drawings that are screen printed onto glass and added fused colour. She uses different techniques and has invented a few along the way!
Katherine Rodger
Katherine Rodger is a local artist and tutor based in Rowlands Gill, in the beautiful Derwent Valley.
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When lockdown started in March 2020 Katherine began a lockdown challenge, #naturedrawingclub from The Natural History Museum, the aim was to post a nature drawing every day. This inspired Katherine's #fridaybirdie, a more personal challenge to produce a new bird painting each week, which kept her motivated throughout lockdown.
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After a very successful Meet The Maker event here at the Heritage Centre Katherine has teamed up with a local print company to produce a range of products including beautiful prints and homeware, alongside her original acrylic paintings.
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The Nines Soap Works
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The Nines is a small artisan soap works based in Washington.
It’s run by Frances Denton who hand makes all the soaps using the age-old traditional cold process method.
Frances began making soap five years ago prompted by the need to find a mild and moisturising soap that could potentially help her daughter who suffers from psoriasis.
Looking at the various types of soap on the market she quickly came to the conclusion that the best way to ensure that a bar was free from potentially harmful chemicals was to make it herself.
So after months of research, testing (only on willing humans), obtaining a Cosmetic Safety Assessment from a registered chemist and complying with all the current legislation, she decided to share her soaps and started The Nines Soap Works.
The soaps are made with the best natural oils and butters to which are added, depending on the recipe, the finest pure essential oils, botanicals, clays, colours and honey.
They are all suitable for vegetarians and, with the exception of the ones that contain honey, are also suitable for vegans