We have just arrived back from our holiday in Cornwall, we really enjoyed ourselves and had a well earned very restful break. It was spoilt somewhat by a couple of days of torrential rain, so we were stuck in the campsite during that time with little to do as we were unable to get out and about much due to us having our dog with us, and they don't let dog's in many places indoors.  We camped near the place where Doc Martin was filmed, so just had to go and have a look at the lovely coastline and  the places that have become so well known in the series, I highly recommend it.  On one of the nicer days were travelled quite a way to see some gorgeous gardens, the visit was inspired by the fact they let dogs in, it was a nice place to have a stroll around and they had a soap making  workshop. You would think that after making soap myself that I wouldn't be interested, but I think there is always something new to learn in life, maybe something to inspire me to do something differently and learn a trick or two perhaps.  The workshop made cold process soaps or lye soaps as they are often called, this is the old fashioned way of making soaps from scratch, this is something I have been intending to do for a few weeks now, introduce a section of my website dedicated to cold process soaps. The soaps I sell at the moment are melt and pour bases with added botanical and butters, essential oils or fragrance. The are great bases to work with and lend themselves to being moulded into some very inticate shapes, great for novelty soaps. The cold process soaps that I am introducing  dont really allow for moulding like that, but they are fantastic soaps, made from scratch, from ols,butters, botanicals and caustic soda Dont be alarmed at the caustic soda, yes it can be dangerous stuff, but once its been included in the soap making process its harmless,These will be very natural handmade soaps that are really good for your skin. I'll tell you about that in my next blog post  and keep you all up to date with whats happening with the new part of the site. The info that you need to know for now is  I am keeping the news section open so I can post relevant snippets on new items for the people that don't want the full blown story, but also I will include in here too with more details included. You can join the rss feed to be kept up to date on this page without having to remember to pop in. Call back soon for the update on the handmade cold process soaps and possibly about our new tent as the one we have leaks !