Woolly box

I received a most intriguing package yesterday. When I opened it up it looked like it might be a dead haggis, but it turned out that the contents had been carefully packed in odd ends of sheep’s wool.

Wool twine

The contents was a tin of very special garden twine for me to try. It’s a new product from Blacker Designs, specialists in rare breed sheep. They use most of their wool for soft and lovely things like throws, cushions, blankets and knitting yarn. Their garden twine is a new product that makes use of fleeces that are too coarse and strong for such soft stuff, which come from Devon and Cornwall Longwool sheep from an organic farm in Cornwall.

This woolly twine is good, strong stuff and not too rough on the fingers. It comes in a waterproof and mouse-proof tin, to keep your twine safe. The only comment I would make is that you would have to punch your own hole in the top if you wanted to make yourself a simple twine dispenser – as it stands you have to take the lid off to get to your string.

I think this is a lovely product, designed to turn a potentially wasted product into something good for the garden. It’s far nicer to use than the brightly coloured plastic twines on offer, and can safely be composted with your plants at the end of the season (although it looks like it would be long-lasting if you use it on your perennials).

The price is currently £5 for around 100 metres, and the twine is available direct from Blacker Designs.

Now if you’re anything like me, you’ve been hankering after a picture of the sheep. But it’s ok, because they sent me once of those, as well :)