The RHS and family-led licensees: it’s only natural

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has a strong portfolio of family-led businesses among its licensing partners – more, perhaps, than many properties of similar size and scope. This is partly down to the strength of the RHS brand of course, but equally to the values shared by the RHS and many of its family-led licensees.

RHS support for small craft businesses, its promotion of British companies, and its emphasis on quality and sustainability are concepts that resonate with the many family businesses it has partnered for licensed products.

However, this doesn’t mean the products are similar – far from it. They vary from gardening gloves to fragrances, but all find something in the RHS brand that they can identify with. The appeal to Woodlodge, for example, of working with the RHS is that it is an authority in gardening – and the UK’s leading gardening charity. Woodlodge, in turn, strives to be the leader in garden pots. It has been in business since 1987, designing and manufacturing products from all over the world with a focus on quality, sustainability and style.

And it’s a true family business. Director Michael Wooldridge’s father Geoffrey started the business after a visit to his mother’s family, who came from a town that made terracotta flower pots. Michael took over 10 years ago.

The reputation of the RHS is often cited by other family-run, gardening-focused RHS licensing partners. Jayco, which owns and created the Gold Leaf Gardening Gloves brand, was established in 1971 by Jim Cooney to source and supply better quality leather welding and industrial gloves to the UK market. The launch of Gold Leaf Gardening Gloves – described as “a higher quality of gardening gloves never previously seen” – happened in 2004. The company has been run by Jim’s son Peter since 1997.

For Jayco, as for Woodlodge, the appeal of the relationship with the world’s foremost gardening institution is that it reinforces the strong reputation of the licensing partner and allows Jayco to reach a wider, and very committed, gardening audience.

The RHS in turn clearly believes that its supporters want the best for use in their own gardens combined with excellent customer service and reliability, all of which Jayco can offer.

But, while the associations of the RHS brand are an obvious attraction for family-run licensees supplying gardening-related products, these licensees certainly vary a greater deal. Willsow, for example, was the creator of the first-ever plantable children’s book, developed with special handmade paper, embedded with hundreds of real vegetable and herb seeds to allow children to plant the pages and grow. For the RHS, as Tom Willday, Willsow founder, explains, the company has taken this concept a stage further. “In partnership with the RHS we have moved onto more plantable products including plantable Christmas crackers and desk calendars.” In this case the products contain seeds of wildflowers and specially selected flower varieties.

Willsow came to gardening in a roundabout way; its origins are in a fourth generation family printing business based in Leicester. However, its plantable products are enjoying success as fun gifts that innovate in the gardening and gift market. They also aim to inspire more people to get outside and see the benefits of ‘growing your own’ – a key RHS message that many of its licensees also espouse.

But RHS family-led licensing partners also have a presence in many non-gardening categories. Recent partner Gibsons Games, for example, is a fourth-generation British family business founded in 1919. Its small team, based in Sutton, works hard to provide beautiful puzzles made in the UK and Europe using sustainable materials. The current Managing Director, Kate Gibson, is the great granddaughter of the founder.

Again, RHS reputation and values are a strong attraction. For Gibsons the RHS is the perfect fit, not least because Gibsons is a British business with a strong heritage – and its puzzles have British themes (gardening is especially popular).

“The RHS shares these values, has an incredible collection of assets to work with [its vast RHS Lindley Collections library of botanical art is offered to all licensees] and is very open to creativity in order to create beautiful things,” says Kate Gibson.

Sustainability is also important for both the RHS and its family-run licensees. For example, Gibsons’ RHS puzzles are manufactured in the UK, and the puzzle pieces packed in paper bags. “Partnering with a charity whose mission is to ensure the UK is a greener and more beautiful place is well aligned with our work to reduce our own impact on the planet,” Kate Gibson explains.

The mental health benefits of gardening are a strong part of the RHS message – and similar messaging is also reflected in the Gibsons Games approach. “Helping people improve their wellbeing is also really important to us. Jigsaw puzzles are a great way to relax and can be really therapeutic in much the same way as spending time in the great outdoors.”

Another recent addition to the RHS licensing programme is West Design Products, a long-established UK-based company that has been supplying high-quality art and craft materials for both professionals and hobbyists for nearly 30 years.

It started with Mike and Marion Bray opening an art and stationery shop in Kent, which within seven years had become seven shops. In 1997 they acquired West Design Products, one of their suppliers. Their twin children, Jo and Owen, both joined the business from very different careers almost twenty years ago.

The Brays are keen gardeners who appreciate the work of the RHS and, like the RHS, support sustainability – in this case through renewable power sources and recycling. But here again, the charity’s reputation and values are also important.

Jo Bray, Managing Director, Sales and Marketing, explains: “We knew the importance of a reputable, recognisable nationwide brand that aligned with our values, our products and our consumer base. We have had great success expanding our craft offering and we see in the RHS a similar customer demographic and the opportunities this provides for our creative department. It felt like an obvious fit. Crafters like gardening and gardeners like crafting. And of course the RHS likes well-crafted, reliable and innovative products.”

Which brings us, believe it or not, to fragrances. Founded in 2017 and now a renowned name in home fragrances, Freckleface boasts five stores and a coffee shop, and supplies over 850 stockists across the UK, with plans for more stores in the pipeline for 2025.

Freckleface was founded by Tara Carlile-Swift and her son, Noah. Diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia at the age of 11, Noah was bright but struggled with exams and with comprehension.

When Noah was 14, Tara suggested that they start a business to boost his confidence. Together they started Freckleface, a fragrance company selling wax melts — scented pieces of wax that release an aroma into the room when heated on top of a burner.

Having grown from a kitchen-table business selling wax melts at local fairs and fetes, Freckleface now has its own factory in rural Lincolnshire. It specialises in handmade botanical fragrances, and the range includes wax melts, candles, fragrance oils, reed diffusers, luxurious bath bombs, giftsets and more.

As the business grew, Tara’s husband Simon joined the team along with their nephew and family friends who work in the workshop where everything is made by hand.

Again the appeal of the RHS for Freckleface is both the power of the brand and its associations – as well as a family love of gardens. As Tara Carlile-Swift explains: “We draw most of the inspiration for our fragrances from art, the natural world and our garden, so having access to the RHS’s incredible library of assets was a dream come true!”

For the RHS of course, this focus on nature makes it an appropriate partner, but there are also sustainability and craft elements. “We make everything by hand and are plastic free, vegan and ethical.”

Another RHS licensee, The Somerset Toiletry Company (TSTC), also gets a lot of its inspiration from nature. It was founded in 1999 by serial entrepreneur Roger Buoy and aromatherapy expert Sakina Buoy, who saw a market gap for affordable, luxury toiletries, first for other brands and then its own product line, expanding globally to the Queen’s Award-winning company it is today through trade fairs.

In 2021, it opened a soap factory in the heart of the Somerset countryside to reduce its carbon footprint and bring jobs to the local community. The emphasis is on high-quality ingredients, using natural extracts where possible, cruelty-free testing, and new product output annually, based on customer feedback. TSTC’s sustainable efforts also extend to the packaging they use and the decision to remove plastic wherever possible. The design team crafts packaging that ranges from classic to contemporary, ensuring products stand out – both inside and out.

TSTC products are distributed in over 50 countries and can be found in select UK shops and online. The company has also collaborated with major retailers in the US and UK, developing private label brands.

Although Roger passed away in 2016, Roger and Sakina’s sons Zantore and Xavier are now looking to grow the business in its next chapter, while still maintaining the core values and identity that harnessed its successes to this point.

As for the link with nature, Zantore Buoy says: “The Somerset Toiletry Company offices are located in the heart of the English countryside and the business has always celebrated the beauty of the great outdoors both in its product design and operations.”

Hence the appeal of the RHS – but the fact that the RHS has long championed individuality and collaboration in horticulture also very much embodies the ethos of The Somerset Toiletry Company, which has always been to create outstanding, original products in an open, family-like working environment.

These are far from the only family-led partners the RHS can boast. Why is this? Cathy Snow, Licensing Manager, RHS suggests: “The craft element is a strong factor, along with RHS support for small businesses, tradition and craft skills and promoting British companies. But more than that perhaps, it’s about identifying with certain values. Many of our family-led licensees are trying to make something that both stands out and also has a positive impact on the environment. Many are keen to promote ethics and sustainability. Many have a genuine passion for nature, gardens and gardening. The values that our family-led licensees espouse often match those of the RHS.”

Peter Cooney, Owner and Manager of Jayco says: “We share essential core values around quality, reliability, customer service and integrity – often referred to by our own customers as a refreshingly old-fashioned approach in the modern era!”

Tara Carlile-Swift adds: “Freckleface was founded as a family company and plans to always be a family company. Community and inclusivity are important to the RHS, and these are values we also seek to embody here at Freckleface.”

But Michael Wooldridge of Woodlodge perhaps best sums up the relationship between the RHS and its family-led licensees. “In essence,” he explains, “working with the RHS is a natural fit for a family company that values tradition, sustainability, and the well-being of future generations.”

® The Royal Horticultural Society. Trademarks of The Royal Horticultural Society (Registered Charity No 222879/SC038262) used under licence from RHS Enterprises Limited.