Why have a Links Page?

There are only a couple of sites in each section at the moment, but more will be added, reflecting our personal interests as well as those you might find useful as our customers, so please check back regularly.

You'll also find our own other sites here, and, while not all are related to our Natural Soaps & Cosmetics business, they all offer high-quality products or services.

Links related to natural soaps and cosmetics

I will soon get round to putting up some information about soaps, essential oils, the advantages of natural cosmetics and other beauty products. The problem, as always, is time. It would be nice just to be able to put a whole book up there, or copy information from someone else's website, but of course there are copyright laws and that would not be very ethical.

In the meantime, until I write my own book, this section will point you to some useful information resources on the Web, or sources of other good products to buy.

• More about Essential Oils

  If you are interested in finding out the uses of essential oils, you might like to take a look at our new website, Essential Oils Co UK.

  (Please note temporarily unavailable) There's a short guide to the properties of the most common essential oils, and, of course, you can always buy some for yourself if you wish. :)

  The quality of our oils is the highest possible, and postage charges are very low, so why not treat yourself?

• The Green Witch

  Well worth a visit, is The Green Witch's website, run by a 'wise woman' in a small village in Scotland.

  Whether you're into the magic of the old Celtic ways or not, her site is full of valuable information on herbs, herbal remedies, the properties of essential oils and other ingredients, health nutrients and much, much more.

  The Green Witch's product range is very wide. She even has extensive information on the magical healing properties of semi-precious gems (crystals), and can supply candles made from local beeswax, cotton wicks and using only essential oils - no synthetic fragrances in addition to lotions and potions for many ailments.

  Don't dismiss her products - she combines the ancient approach with modern scientific knowledge.

  The Green Witch also produces a newsletter - Email her to be subscribed.

• Natural Products from the VeriUni Store

  Until recently, my wife and I held to the view that you can get all your vitamin and mineral needs from eating good, healthy, wholesome (organic perhaps?) food. With my wife's illness, we have seen the benefits of supplements.

  The VeriUni Store offers not only a range of worthwhile nutritional supplements (including one containing red wine extract for those who are on medication and therefore can't take alcohol), but also natural cleaning products for the home. While we ourselves used to make our own, time constraints make this impossible now, and these products are very much safer than the usual shop-bought ones. Worth checking out.

  In addition - mainly for American readers - VeriUni has a good range of internet and long-distance telephone packages that compare very favourably with other service providers, as well as a book and magazine store, and pet-care products.

  Visit The VeriUni Store for further information.

  Please note Shipping for UK customers is not prohibitive, so do give the store a try.

Environmental Sites

The Green Consumer Guide

We were very pleased to be promoted in December, 2003 by The Green Consumer Guide Christmas Shop for selling environmentally friendly products.

The shop is still up and running, and soon will be expanding to include a much wider selection of products from even more sites.

This is an easy way of showing that you care about The Earth and its finite resources, so why not take a look at what the shop has to offer.

If you like the Green Newsfeed headlined on our home page, why not subscribe to their Newsletter and have it delivered straight to your inbox? Click here to go to The Green Consumer Guide Home Page.

Organic Food

But before that, if you want to find out more, not just about organic food but organics in all aspects of life, why not visit Why Organic.

There are offers on organic food, places to stay, a search facility for over 2000 shops, message boards and much, much more. And of course a link back to The Soil Association who carry out the certification for organic products in the UK.

. Back to the food, for starters, try:

• Cleveley Park Organics, for the best in traditional and organic meat, organic and wild fresh fish, and organic wines and spirits

  If, like us, you love the taste of meat so much that you just can't give it up, we can't recommend buying better than from Cleveley Park Organics.

  Richard lives in the Fylde area so is semi-local to us, but is able to take orders from anywhere in the UK and some international destinations.

  He is never content with any one supplier and sources his produce from only the best available.

  On the meat side, he makes sure that the animals are reared humanely on local farms, and the meat itself is of outstanding quality.

  'Traditional' means that the meat is hung and cured properly, rather than being packaged and transported with little time for the meat's flavours to mature, as is the case with most supermarket-bought meat these days. And the prices of the traditional meat are extremely inviting for those of us who can't always afford meat produced on Soil Association Certified (organic) farms.

  Cleveley Park Organics' range of fish from our coastal waters is unrivalled, whether seafish or shellfish, and his organic salmon from Scotland is outstanding.

  Or why not try some of his Cornish wildflower honey. Perhaps we should use some in a new all natural soap...

  If, like us, you appreciate quality wine for special occasions or for with that special dinner, Cleveley Park Organics offer a large range of organic wines and spirits from the best wine-growing regions around the world. They also have organic juices for the health-conscious.

  They also have an information centre in Blackpool where you can see all they have to offer, and that includes some of our own products.

  We are pleased to be associated with Cleveley Park Organics and are sure you will agree that their products are second to none, due to Richard's constant hunt for only the best available for delivery straight to your door. Why not give them a try - I don't think you'll be disappointed!

• ChocAid

  ChocAid, from the Republic of Ireland, is for chocolate lovers with a conscience. All their chocolates are made using organic and Fair Trade ingredients. But more than that, each time you buy something you are donating a percentage to a worthwhile Third-World project, and you can choose the one you want to give to!

  An excellent site, and as for the chocolates, well, they're just wonderful.

  A novel idea (and one which made my wife burst into tears when she got it as a present from me on Valentine's Day) is a chocolate globe, with countries in relief so even I could feel the tiny dot that is Ireland.

  I don't think it was the chocolate that made her cry but the hand-written card that says 'You mean the world to me'. :)

  And as for the truffles...

  My only complaint is the fact that the Irish Government charges 21% VAT - now I would have thought that given the nature of the site that could have been waived, even though it's not a registered charity.

  Go to ChocAid for a wonderful experience.

Get some good deals, or a good business opportunity, from our FreeStoreClub international store

Buy cheap to sell at a profit, or get your own business for Free

If you are looking for a variety of high quality goods that you might not otherwise be able to buy, then our virtual mail order catalogue online store will give you some bargains and some unusual ideas.

Although the store is based in the States, shipping costs worldwide are not prohibitive. In fact, the more you order, the lower the tariff per pound weight, so it's worth ordering as many things as you can at once.

If you are really only interested in, say, a 10ml roll-on perfume, then contact us and I will arrange to have some shipped if I can to save you costs.

Products range from fragrances for men and women through soaps & cosmetics, health and nutrition products, jewellery, car accessories, luggage, clothing and footwear, household and kitchenware, toolkits, toys and games, and much, much more.

And each time you buy something, we get a small commission, which we use to put back into the business.

And if you like what you see in the store, you can have your own store (for free if you like) to buy at wholesale prices, or to sell from at a good profit.

And each time someone gets their store from you, you earn commission on their sales or on the people they give a free store to as well.

NETQUOTEVAR:LINK

Gardening sites

We are delighted to be associated with the following site:

• Greenfingers were, like us, one of the environmentally-friendly sites chosen by Green Consumer Guide Christmas Shop in December 2003. They have a large range of gardening products and gift ideas and offer good value for money with many special offers, gardening advice and tips. A bonus, unlike some other gardening sites, is that their site is very accessible for blind people using screenreaders.

  Why not try out their site?

  Every time you make a purchase you will not only be helping the environment but helping us too!

• Crocus are the UK's largest online garden centre and flower centre. We have bought many of our plants from them and also some good gift ideas. They have good offers, a newsletter, gardening tips and more.

  Although we're not associated with them (so we won't make any commission on sales), why not give them a try?

• The Citrus Centre is a specialist nursery based in the UK growing 130 varieties of all sorts of citrus fruits for the retail and wholesale market. My dream is to have a Victorian conservatory full of the smell of neroli (orange blossom) and to be able to harvest our own fruits for the soaps, and, I suppose, a few for the kitchen. :)

  Perhaps a little more expensive than the local garden centre, but then they have many more varieties and you know that you are getting only the very best.

  Why not give them a try?

In our locality

• East Lancs. Steam Railway

  Now largely a tourist railway (although a lifeline for some of us), between Bury and Rawtenstall, with a new line opened from Bury to Heywood, trains run at the weekends in winter and from Wednesday-Sunday during the summer. There are many steam-only events, and also Thomas the Tank Engine weekends, which the kids, of course, all love. For adults, there is a well-attended World War II memorial weekend, with military exercises and representatives from the Forces on hand.

  And of course the Santa Special where not only do the kids get a present from Father Christmas but the long-suffering parents can relax with a mince pie and sherry, compliments of Santa. :)

  You may even be able to buy one of our Steam Train Glycerine Soaps at the station if you're lucky!

  Click here to go to the East Lancs. Railway home page.

Need a new mobile phone?

If you yourself don't need a new phone, you might like to stop and think about my friend who recently dropped his phone onto a hard floor and not only cracked the screen but damaged the case and keys beyond repair.

Now, if he'd taken out phone insurance (which is much cheaper than you would think) he could have had a replacement in his hand within a day.

Click here to go to our mobile phones site!

Do you like jazz - or any type of music?

• The Jazz Den, run by Yours Truly

  Some of you have asked about the signature line in our emails. Well, my other great interest apart, of course, from my family and making soaps and cosmetics is jazz. I'm a jazz musician and teacher of more years than I care to remember. I have a (very basic) website that you can visit. Just point your browser to The Jazz Den and you will be able to find out more.

• Jazz Services, for all UK info on jazz and more

  Jazz Services, publishers of Jazz UK (a regional monthly magazine that you can now read online) has information on gigs, musicians, promoters, education, books, and much, much more. They have links to many other UK and international jazz sites - a truly absorbing site with tons of information.

  Click here to go to Jazz Services home page.

• EMusic.com

  As it's the music that really matters rather than the look of The Jazz Den website, we were delighted to become associated with EMusic, a legal service from which you can download a wide selection of MP3 tracks on subscription. And not just jazz - the styles range right across the musical spectrum.

  There will be a link here very shortly taking you to their site where you can join a free one-month trial and download up to fifty MP3 tracks of your choice. Even if you then decide not to continue with a paid subscription (but I hope you will), you will be earning us a little commission and helping spread the idea of legitimate MP3 downloads, which in turn ensures that musicians and those involved in producing the recordings get their rightful share of the revenue. There are many small, independent labels now on the scene and it is through legal MP3 downloads that they will be able to survive the strong-arm techniques of some of the industry giants.

Take advantage of special offers from Amazon!

The best place to buy books, CDs, DVDs, Electrical or homeware - new or used

Amazon.co.uk is one of the best places to go bargain hunting, whether for new or used items. They always have special offers, and their Marketplace gives you the chance to buy second-hand or new from other sellers as well.

We have bought many of our reference books for our business from them, and they have a nice 'reseller' section where you can buy new or second-hand below the Amazon price. Worth checking out.

We are very pleased to be associated with the company and will highlight some of their best bargains soon.

Each time you make a purchase from Amazon from this link you will be helping us too.