People often assume Norfolk Natural Living began in some impossibly chic way. A beautiful studio perhaps. Linen aprons. Bowls of botanicals casually scattered about while I floated around decanting oils with terrific purpose.
I wish. In reality, it began exactly where most good ideas begin: with exhaustion, a sink full of dishes and a small child refusing to sleep unless physically attached to me like a baby koala.
Back in 2014, after having my first child, life suddenly became both lovelier and far more chaotic than I had anticipated. I spent most days ricocheting between feeding someone, cleaning something, stepping on a wooden toy, and reheating the same cup of tea roughly six times before giving up on it entirely.
And like so many new parents, I became strangely obsessed with what was in everything. Cleaning sprays, washing liquids, laundry products, candles. Once you start reading labels at 2am while holding a baby, there really is no going back. I didn’t want harsh chemicals around my children, but equally, I didn’t want my house smelling like absolutely nothing.
There seemed to be two options at the time: products that were “natural” but smelled faintly of damp cardboard, or products that smelled glorious but came with ingredients lists that looked mildly alarming.
I remember one particular afternoon standing at the kitchen sink doing the dishes, which remains one of the most thankless household jobs ever invented. The sun was streaming through the window, the house was finally quiet, and I found myself thinking how ridiculous it was that these tiny everyday rituals felt so joyless.
And then, somewhere between a saucepan and a baby bottle, I had a small epiphany.
I’d spent years immersed in aromatherapy and essential oils. Scent had always fascinated me because it changes everything. Your mood. Your memory. The atmosphere of a room. So I thought: why shouldn’t a washing up liquid feel beautiful? Why shouldn’t cleaning products bring comfort, calm, even pleasure?
That was really the beginning of Norfolk Natural Living. Not some grand business plan scribbled onto a mood board, but a desire to make ordinary life feel better. Softer. More intentional.
I started creating products I genuinely wanted in my own home. Things that were effective, beautifully scented, safe to use around children and dogs and the general chaos of family life, but that also made the everyday feel slightly elevated. Because I have always believed there is enormous power in small rituals.
A beautiful candle lit while folding laundry somehow makes the laundry less offensive. A glorious scent drifting through the kitchen while you clean up supper changes the whole mood of the evening. Tiny things, really. But tiny things are often what carry us through difficult seasons of life.
From the very beginning, it mattered deeply to me that our products were non toxic, vegan, and gentle on both people and the planet. I didn’t want to create “green” products that felt worthy and dull. I wanted products that people fell in love with first and then discovered happened to be safer, cleaner, and kinder too.
What still amazes me now is how many people tell us the same thing: that our products changed how they feel about their homes. Not because a cleaner can magically solve your life, obviously. If only. But because scent and ritual have this extraordinary ability to ground us. To make home feel comforting again.
Norfolk Natural Living has grown enormously since those early kitchen sink days, but the heart of it remains exactly the same. It is still about creating moments of beauty in ordinary routines. It is still about making homes feel nurturing and calm. And honestly, it is still partly about making washing up feel less grim.
I never set out simply to build a brand. I wanted to create products that helped people romanticise everyday life a little. Especially during the messy, exhausting, imperfect parts of it.
Because those are usually the parts worth remembering in the end.
And truly, thank you for reading, for supporting Norfolk Natural Living, and for trusting me enough to let our products become part of your homes and daily rituals. It never feels lost on me, not for a second.
Talk soon,
B x
Talk soon,
B x
