Welcome to our Links page! Here you will find an eclectic range of sites, divided into the following categories: Period Houses & Restoration, Salvage Yards, Antiques, Small Business and Quirky/Lifestyle. We think they're all great and I hope you find them as useful as we do! Please do feel free to suggest new websites which you think ought to be featured - just drop us a line at enquiries@periodfeatures.net.
Period Houses & Restoration
The Victorian Society is the national society responsible for the study and protection of Victorian and Edwardian architecture and other arts. It was founded in 1958 to fight the then widespread ignorance of nineteenth and early twentieth century architecture and provides lots of useful advice!
www.victorian-society.org.uk
Bricks & Brass is a unique web site which provides comprehensive and easy-to-find information for people who are looking for an older house, own one, or just love them. It focuses on homes from the Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian periods in the UK. www.bricksandbrass.co.uk
History UK is for people with a passion for British history and is run by a real enthusiast. It offers unrivalled free access to more than 28,000 directory listings of British history related venues, organisations and experts in the UK. Editorial includes regular features, historic recipes, a monthly competition, DIY History and the exclusive History.uk.com Timeline of British history from 10,000BC to the present day.
www.history.uk.com
Researching Historic Buildings In the British Isles
Would you like to find out more about the history of your house or a historic building? This guide by Jean Manco will start you on the detective trail. www.building-history.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
The Online House Detective is another site for people interested in tracing the history of houses, as well as any building in a town or village. www.house-detectives.co.uk
The Natural Oak Company is run by a skilled local craftsman and his family; their green oak structures are unique and beautifully crafted. www.natural-oak.co.uk
World Of Old Houses, run by an Australian chap called Ian Evans, is a good resource if you are restoring or maintaining an old house, heritage building or traditional architecture. It provides information, advice & assistance as well as a worldwide directory of suppliers - absolutely everything for old houses!
www.oldhouses.com.au
Thatched Owners' Group is handy if you own a home with a thatched roof, as it has a specialist thatched house insurance division, contact details for roof thatchers in your area, financial advice on grants for re-thatching, fire safety information and products and a directory of specialist products and services. www.thatched-group.com
Second Nature, based in the Lake District, manufactures a product called Thermafleece from British sheepswool to create an exceptionally efficient insulation material. It is healthy to use, healthy to live with and kind to the environment too! www.secondnatureuk.co.uk
Original Features specialises in supplying products and services for the restoration of 19th and early 20th century properties. Their main areas of expertise are geometric floor tiles and fireplaces; their experience of the restoration and reproduction of Victorian tiled floors is recognized throughout the heritage industry. www.originalfeatures.co.uk
Perfect Restoration meets the needs of those working in the vehicle (not house, but it's a handy site anyway!) restoration industry and those who are simply restoration enthusiasts. The site has a directory of specialists and suppliers, clubs, events, museums and other places of interest. It also has a forum on which you can share your ideas, opinions and passions with others in the vintage vehicle community. www.perfectrestoration.com
Vintage Paints manufactures and supplies specialist paint for every kind of vintage item. So whether you're restoring a classic car or traction engine, a tank or some Victorian ironwork, this company can develop the colour, finish and quality of paint you need. Their passion for paint matches your passion for restoring your pride and joy!
www.vintagepaints.com
Building Conservation offers articles by leading conservation specialists, details of relevant courses, a directory of suppliers and more: www.buildingconservation.com
Period Living is one of my favourite period homes magazines and they have a great website too, with competitions and an excellent directory of suppliers. www.periodliving.co.uk
The Lock Restoration Company, as the name suggests, specialises in the restoration of old rim and mortice locks including the removal of paint and dirt, repair of broken springs, replacement of missing parts, cutting of keys to fit locks, polishing or painting of lock bodies, and the manufacture of keeps to fit locks. Very handy! www.lockrestoration.com
The Old House Web has lots of advice and ideas for old-house enthusiasts, helpful articles, a directory of suppliers and discussion forums too. www.oldhouseweb.com
The Society For The Protection Of Ancient Buildings was founded by William Morris in 1877 to counteract the highly destructive 'restoration' of medieval buildings being practised by many Victorian architects. Today it is the largest national pressure group fighting to save old buildings from decay, demolition and damage. www.spab.org.uk
The Listed Property Owners' Club is Britain's only advice service dedicated to keeping listed building owners informed of their obligations, rights, privileges and responsibilities. It also provides practical information on matters such as property maintenance, guidance on grants, loans, VAT and insurance and acts as a pressure group.
www.lpoc.co.uk
Renovators is an online community and information resource for old house lovers, with restoration and home improvement tips, a comprehensive guide to suppliers of restoration goods and services, a Knowledge Base full of useful related stories and articles, and the Old House Friends discussion forums. www.renovators.com
Tissington Hall is the home of the FitzHerbert family, in a beautiful Derbyshire village. They do guided tours and the tea room is excellent. www.tissington-hall.com
Woodworks is run by a local craftsman; they make bespoke hand-crafted kitchens and interiors and offer a friendly, personal service. www.leekwoodworks.com
www.thehousedirectory.com
This invaluable online directory features a large database of over 3,500 companies covering all aspects of interior and garden design and decoration. It’s the essential resource both for professionals and for the general public. Go to www.thehousedirectory.com for answers to all your sourcing questions.
Hunter & Hyland - Suppliers of Finials, Wooden Poles and Curtain Accessories. We are very highly thought of in the industry and have been awarded the Royal Warrant for our quality. We would be delighted if you would take a look at us and see if we are the sort of site you would like to recommend your visitors to and vice versa.
Salvage Yards (Real & Virtual)
Arcsal offers you the chance to browse through architectural salvage treasures available from dealers throughout Britain. The catalogue covers everything from basic building materials such as handmade Edwardian bricks or 16th century oak beams to external design features - columns, doorways or statues, to interior design statements - panelling, stained glass, fireplaces, baths, staircases. www.arcsal.com
Architrader is a user-friendly online marketplace where you can buy and sell architectural salvage and surplus building materials. Buying is free of commission; you can source
period architectural features such as doors, flooring, radiators, fireplaces, stonework, lighting, and gardenware, or you can track down unused surplus building materials. You can sell items for as little as £2.50 per listing. www.architrader.com
In Situ is a friendly company in Manchester with an excellent range of goods for kitting out old houses, modern warehouse-style apartments, bars, restaurants or shops. From flooring and doors to stoves, fires and fireplaces, tiles, bathrooms and banisters, the list is endless. Browse through the online catalogue to see the current range. www.insitumanchester.com
LASSCO bills itself as London's prime resource for architectural antiques and salvage. It's big and posh with lots of great stock at various different locations! www.lassco.co.uk
Salvo brings together lots of different dealers selling a wide range of items such as doors, fireplaces, furniture, gardens, glass, ironwork, kitchens, lighting, radiators, stone, windows and woodwork. It's also a good source of reclaimed building materials like beams, bricks, flagstones, flooring, roof slates and tiles, timber. www.salvo.co.uk
Last but not least, Ebay has an excellent Architectural Antiques section where you can buy everything including the kitchen sink. Try not to get addicted! www.ebay.co.uk
Futons - Online retailer of futons, sofa beds in traditional and contemporary styles in wood and metal as well as accessories such as covers, mattresses and frames.
Antiques
Antiques Directory is a comprehensive online guide to the UK antiques trade. It has a directory containing over 17,000 entries, allowing you to find dealers, auctioneers, restorers, art galleries and museums anywhere in the UK. www.antiques-directory.co.uk
Antiques Magazine has a really handy guide to UK Antiques Fairs being held in the near future. Click on the Fairs Calendar link on the left of the page. www.antiquesmagazine.com
Antiques UK has a useful directory of restorers, fairs, dealers, collectors and antiques centres, both in the UK and abroad, as well as a unique matching service for buyers and sellers of antiques. www.antiques-uk.co.uk
Antiques World is a UK directory of information on antiques and collectables for private and professional enthusiasts. It also has the most comprehensive list of collectors' clubs and societies on the Web. www.antiquesworld.co.uk
Antique Telephones sell only the very best quality genuine GPO telephones. Restored to a very high standard and fully working. www.antiquetelephones.co.uk
Small Business
Do Your Own PR is a fabulous resource run by Paula Gardner, who has helped me completely transform my business. She offers very reasonably-priced PR ecourses for small businesses and has also written a really practical guide to PR. www.doyourownpr.com
Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank offer free business banking forever - with no minimum bank balance required. I have used them for a couple of years and find the service very efficient and reliable. www.alliance-leicestercommercialbank.co.uk
Miltec is our knowledgeable website maintenance and design company and they always provide a good, efficient service. We use them for Search Engine Optimisation too, and they have plenty of great ideas about how to improve your rankings. www.miltec.co.uk
One Spaceman is run by Simon Heath and is a really good graphic/web design agency. Simon designed the template for my newsletter Home Help! Tips & Inspirations For Your Period House, which I am delighted with. Visit the site at www.onespaceman.co.uk
Ome Design is another graphic design team, based in London and headed by Jilly Sitford and Martin Topping. They have come up with some great ideas for us in the past, and we continue to work together on various projects. www.omedesign.co.uk
WIRE (Women In Rural Enterprise) is an excellent networking group which offers lots of advice and support for women setting up their own business. www.wireuk.org
Renegade Lemming is a site owned and run by Phil Gosling, who is full of great ideas about how to make money on the Internet. He has also written an ebook called Success Engineering, about goal setting, which I highly recommend. www.renegadelemming.com
Aweber is a fabulous autoresponder tool which takes the hard work out of maintaining a mailing list and emailing your subscribers. We use it for sending out the newsletter each month and for keeping in touch with customers. It automates the whole process and makes your life easier as a result! Very reasonably priced, too. www.aweber.com
Bookshaker has an irreverent approach which I like, and some really good books about small business success, health, wealth and personal growth. www.bookshaker.com
Judith Morgan is the wisest, most inspirational coach I have ever come across. She helps people to achieve health, wealth, happiness and have a lot of fun in the process. Judith also writes a great free newsletter called In the Pink! www.judithmorgan.com
Quirky/Lifestyle
Alastair Sawday publishes a wonderful series of books called Special Places To Stay, and it's always the first place we look when we go away. You can find B&Bs, hotels, inns and pubs, both in the UK and abroad, and we have loved all their recommendations! www.sawdays.co.uk
River Cottage is the virtual home of shaggy-haired chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. The site aims to promote a better understanding of the nature and origins of what we eat, and has lots of seasonal recipes, details of interesting courses and much more. www.rivercottage.net
Village Bakery is a great source of organic, healthy breads made using leavens and sourdoughs without product improvers and with the shortest ingredient listings you will find! They also do indulgent things like chocolate brownies... www.village-bakery.com
White Ladder Press is run by the ever-helpful Rich and Roni, who publish a range of quirky and practical non-fiction books for people who like a fresh take on life. As a small business owner, I have found some of them very useful. www.whiteladderpress.com
Kitty Fisher's Finds is a great source of unusual gifts and homewares, both old and new, from jewellery to authentic vintage French chandeliers. www.kittyfishersfinds.co.uk
Meg Rivers is a mail-order bakery which makes gorgeous cakes and posts them out to you! They also do quirky things like Starving Student gift boxes. www.megrivers.com
Pachacuti is a fairtrade fashion company which is run by my friend Carry Somers, a fellow finalist in the Country Living Enterprising Rural Women Awards. She sells great clothes, slippers and hats made by small producers in South America. www.pachacuti.co.uk
Papa Stour is a quirky on-line boutique which offers a selection of the very best pieces from Scotland’s contemporary arts and crafts scene - none of the usual mass-market shortbread and tartan goods! I love the luggage label price tags they use on the site. www.papastour.com
Essex Pig Company is run by Jimmy Doherty - you may have seen the TV programme about his trials and tribulations as he was setting up the farm. They use traditional farming methods to make really tasty sausages, pork and bacon!
www.essexpigcompany.com
Fleur Kelly is an artist who lives in a gorgeous house near Frome in Somerset. Not only does Fleur hold specialist painting courses, but she also runs a lovely B&B. We went there recently, and it was just like staying with old friends! www.fleurkelly.com/bandb
The Old Bicycle Company is a fabulously eccentric site which covers everything to do with antique bicycles and accessories, from restoration to sale. www.theoldbicycle.co.uk
Remember When UK specialises in early British collectables & memorabilia - ranging from enamel signs to red telephone kiosks and postboxes. www.rememberwhenuk.com
A. Gold has a gorgeous shop in Spitalfields where they sell the best of British food, from old-fashioned sweets like sugar mice and rhubarb and custards to mead, perry, organic wines and cheeses such as the wonderfully-named Stinking Bishop. www.agold.co.uk
Lower Hurst Farm, based in the rolling hills of the Peak District near our own shop, offers mail-order organic beef from cattle bred on the farm and reared organically throughout their lives. They also do a really fabulous range of pies, steak puddings and other home-made dishes. www.lowerhurstfarm.co.uk
Old Town produces around fifty garments per week from its workshop using British cottons, woollens and linens. I love their utilitarian, retro look!
www.old-town.co.uk
Thomas Etty Esq. is a somewhat eccentric supplier of heritage seeds (both flower and vegetable) and bulbs for the period garden. www.thomasetty.co.uk
Janet Vinnell is an Irish painter working in Galway whose paintings bring to life many of the quiet and often hidden scenes of the West of Ireland. www.janetvinnell.com
House Of Cheese is an award-winning family business which has been supplying good cheese since 1982. They specialise in the very best cheese as opposed to factory-produced, often characterless imitations seen in supermarkets and you can buy cheese online too. www.houseofcheese.co.uk
The Lara Grace Collections is located in one of the big antiques mills just round the corner from Period Features and has a beautiful range of designer curtain fabrics for your home. As featured in "The Daily Telegraph" and "Country Home and Interiors". You can order online too! www.laragrace.co.uk
Sheer Luxe Every day new boutiques, jewellers and home stores are popping up online and where better to find out about them than a site dedicated to online shopping... www.sheerluxe.com
