The moment you walk through the stable door of
Jacqui Sheard’s shop in the stunning north Wiltshire
village of Lacock, the air is suffused with
the smell of Christmas: the woody aroma of
cinnamon; the lingering perfume of juniper,
sweet orange and clove.
Hand-cut blocks of soap, adorned with slices
of dried orange and cranberries, nestle in wicker
baskets on the wooden cash desk. Shelves
fashioned from vintage crates are stacked with
handmade bath milks, flower-scented body
scrubs and Christmas baubles. And under a
Victorian bell jar, in pride of place in the bay
window, are clusters of spherical bath melts
– topped off with tiny gold stars and just the
faintest sprinkling of glitter. A veritable feast of
a Christmas shopping experience in the most
beautiful traditional setting.
Jacqui, who trained as a graphic designer in
Kingston, stumbled into soap making after reading
an article about traditional soapmaking and thought
it was a wonderful way to unwind after a hard
days work at her already successful graphic
design agency, Sheard Hudson Creative.
Originally, she worked out of a unit behind The
George pub, selling soap to friends and relatives
and to the great swathes of tourists who tour
Lacock each year. But as her client base grew
and the shop across the road – “the one with
the beautiful windows” – became vacant, she
seized the opportunity to expand. “The village
is almost entirely owned by the National Trust,”
explains Jacqui, “but we’ve got a long lease. For
Quintessentially English, Lacock very much
feels like home.”
In fact, the whole shop, with its flagstone
floors, cast-iron weighing scales and timeworn
wooden step, pays homage to a bygone age.
Earthenware bowls full of essential oils, spices
and crushed lavender are laid out on a rustic
farmhouse table; an ancient oak beam supports
a huge, stone fireplace; and horses’ hooves can
be heard on the road outside. Even the counter
in the front of the shop was salvaged from a
local haberdashery store. Today, though, it is
laden not with fabric and spools of threads, but
with Cinnamon Spice and Moon Beam, Angel’s
Rest and Shiraz Orange: tablets of soap with
fantastical names.
Jacqui places great emphasis on creating
as pure a product as possible. “Our soaps are
about as natural as you can get, much gentler
than the manufactured versions available
in the supermarkets,” she says. “We work
with suppliers who are certified by the Soil
Association; nearly every one of the essential oils
we use is organic and we are ourselves hoping to
seek accreditation in the near future.”
All her shampoos and shower gels – from
the Goddess range, with its aroma of geranium
and ylang-ylang, to the hypnotic Venus, scented
with patchouli, lemon and oregano – are free
from artificial additives and preservatives.
And when it comes to the packaging of her
handmade soaps, each block is simply and
lovingly wrapped in greaseproof paper before
being tied with a length of twine.
Jacqui’s natural approach even extends to
the soap making process itself, and she prefers,
where possible, to work exclusively by hand.
“Once you’ve blended the various olive, coconut
and sustainable palm oils with the caustic soda,
you need to get stirring. I work to a very old
recipe and find you get a much silkier texture if
you use a wooden spoon and some good, oldfashioned
elbow grease. I’ll take a stool out to
the courtyard or sit in the kitchen with the radio
on. Some people think I’m mad, but I try to be
as honest as I can to the traditional process.”
Indeed, it can take a whole day to craft a
batch of soap and members of her family have
been known to help out during busy periods.
“As it cools, it gets lighter in colour and develops
the consistency of thick custard. My motherin-
law once compared the hours of stirring to
rowing across the Channel,” Jacqui laughs. “It
certainly feels like that the next morning when
your arms feel like lead.”
While Jacqui has very loyal local clients –
Quintessentially English products are sold at
The Gingery Piggery in Boyton, near Salisbury,
and at the Wiltshire Heritage Museum in
Devizes – she has also been busy cooking up
batches of soap for the Christmas gift boxes
which are now winging their way to stores
around the country and to her burgeoning
numbers of internet customers.
The gift packs are, of course, also available
in the Lacock shop: generous chunks of artisan
soap tucked into plain brown boxes and
decorated with cinnamon sticks, festive berries
and segments of dried citrus fruits. The winter
box typically contains Soul Warmer, crafted
with Christmas cloves and orange; Cinnamon
Spice, a potent blend of cinnamon and orange;
and Angel’s Rest, Jacqui’s personal favourite,
scented with essential oils of lavender and
geranium. There is also Alchemy, a perennial
Christmas bestseller which promises wisdom,
happiness and love, and which is made from
gold, frankincense and myrrh; and Woodland
Walk, with its hint of orange, cedarwood and
willow, which aims to capture the cool air of
a woodland walk and the warmth of a log fire.
Along with her assistant, Tamsyn, a seasoned
soap maker who joined Quintessentially English
nine years ago on a temporary basis and has
never left, Jacqui has built up a thriving local
business where warmth and attention to detail
and a commitment to organic principles are the
order of the day. “I love it when customers say
how fantastic our soap is; how it’s like nothing
they’ve ever used before,” she enthuses.
Jacqui is now preparing for Christmas, the
shop glinting with baubles and filled with
festive aromas. “It’s wonderful to be part of a
community where I’ve lived for so many years
and to be able to stop and chat to the people
who wander into the shop. Christmas is such a
magical time: the warmth, the merriment and
celebration. I hope our gift boxes, with their
cinnamon and clove and gold, frankincense and
myrrh, capture the spirit of that.”
Quintessentially English also stocks a range
of vintage products and locally sourced gifts,
from handmade cushions to mugs and prints.
Christmas gift boxes are priced from £10.
Special Christmas shopping days are
scheduled for the first two weekends in
December. On these days, Jacqui is offers subscribers
to her website and newsletters a 10 per cent discount
and purchases of over £10 will also qualify for a gift
bag of Bubble and Squeaky Clean soaps. Simply present
this pageat the cash desk.
For further information, telephone 01249
730100; visit http://www.quintessentiallyenglish.co.uk
or drop into the shop at 11 West Street, Lacock,
Wiltshire, SN15 2LH.
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