| Country Heart is a true
cottage industry based at Plum Tree Cottage on the English/Welsh border in the
heart of England's few remaining ancient forests. Founded
in 2000 by textile designer Sian Longstaff and graphic designer Philip Newbert.
Sian and Philip have over 20 years experience designing fabrics, homewares and
decorative products for industry here and abroad, for names such as Mary Quant,
Liberty and Coloroll and high street stores such as Debenhams , Marks and Spencer
and BHS as well as clients in America, Japan and Europe. Country Heart was created
from a desire to do something different, free from the constraints of an increasingly
trend oriented industry and have more control over our designs from conception
to production. The idea was born to combine a love of the countryside and all
our decorative and design skills to generate a new business designing and producing
our own range of country style gifts and decorations. With the wonderful technology
of the world wide web mail order seemed the obvious way to reach our customers
together with a twice yearly catalogue both designed and produced by us. Drawing
inspiration from the surrounding countryside as well as country art from around
the world the Country Heart range is designed and handmade in the Country Heart
studio and workshop. Also included in the collection are designs by named craftspeople
specially selected for their individuality, good design and country style. The
collection comprises the Wooden Decoration range and the hand stitched and embroidered
Fabric Collections. Our popular Personalised Range is designed to produce something
unique to mark those very special occasions, each one hand made with care. All
our frames are hand made and painted and finished by us in specially chosen colours
to enhance our pictures. The Country Heart web
site is designed and maintained exclusively by Country Heart and is constantly
being updated and improved to make it easy to use and navigate. New designs are
added throughout the year as they become available. A monthly e-newsletter
service runs from the site, this keeps customers informed of new designs special
offers, competitions and treats. This is a popular service which is free to receive
and easy to unsubscribe from. Approximately twice
a year Country Heart produces a catalogue. One features our everyday range of
gifts and decorations including the personalised range and the second is sent
out in September and features our extremely popular and sought after Christmas
decorations. 95% of our materials are sourced
in the UK, locally where possible. We do import a few fabrics and embellishments
from America where needed to create that special country look. All our packaging
is re-cycled using materials gleaned from local businesses. The only exception
being bubble wrap for which we have not been able to find a suitable alternative
which will ensure our pictures and more delicate items reach our customers safely. Mindful
of our customers privacy and aware of the growing mountain of junk mail it is
the Country Heart policy not to pass any customer information to third parties
thus ensuring that our customers are not bombarded with unwanted mail. We
are always happy to receive suggestions for improvements to the site or perhaps
for products which you would like to see added to our collections. | 
