Happy 6 Month Birthday Bertie!

So six months ago today we pressed go on our new baby, Cotswold Baby Co. It’s been such an exciting six months and we have loved sharing our brand with all our lovely customers, and seeing reactions as we launch new ideas and collections. We have both been on a steep learning curve and our working days involve everything from accounting to social media, to warehouse picking and packing up orders - never a dull moment!

A bit about us - Rachael and I have known each other since those heady days at University when we danced to Baywatch on a Thursday night, drank tequila from plastic shot glasses and used our taxi money to buy cheesy chips on the way home. We were best friends, having been bridesmaids for each other and ended up living in neighbouring towns in the Cotswolds. When our babies were born a few months apart, it meant we got to share the midnight Whatsapp feeding chats and all that goes with being a new Mum.

It was on one of the many ‘nap-laps’ around Westonbirt Arboretum on a sunny day last July that the idea for Cotswold Baby Co. was born - we wanted to base our brand on our love of where we lived along with the great outdoors, and create cute and affordable collections of baby clothes. With that in mind, we launched Cotswold Baby Co. last October with our Fantastic Fox Collection.

At the time people questioned what it would be like to go into business with your best friend, and we did both wonder what being business partners would be like; who would do what role? How would it evolve? I mean, we knew how to deal with each others hangovers, but business partners?!

With the excitement of our launch party at the end of October, it soon became apparent where my business partner’s strengths lay. We had invited the Mayor of Tetbury to attend and were super excited when he arrived and even agreed to a selfie with us! The Mayor, who had ‘no little cubs to buy for’ left our party with a pack of fox bunting and a pair of baby fox socks. Rachael really can sell ice to eskimos!

The festive season was soon upon us and we decided to set up a stand at the Corn Hall market in Cirencester. For five weeks we were full time Delboy & Rodney, juggling childcare as we tried to make the most of the Christmas rush. It was hard work but also a lot of fun and we met so many lovely customers! Our fellow market traders made us feel very welcome too, although we did meet some interesting characters - I don’t think either of us will forget one very cold Sunday afternoon when the lady next to us kept her dog under the table who had a definite problem with wind!

In the New Year we launched our At the Farm collection which involved a crazy fun-filled photoshoot at Roves Farm with the very talented Joanna Osborne. We definitely broke the ‘never work with children and animals’ rule that day! It was from this eventful day that we began working with the lovely family at Roves Farm, who now stock our clothes in their shop!

So what has the next six months got in store for us? We will be stepping back into our Delboy and Rodney roles next week as we go to Sudeley Castle Spring Fair, and then are very excited to be at Cotswold Baby & Toddler Show in Cheltenham on 29th April. We have just started shipping internationally and will be launching a new collection of Woodland inspired clothing ready for the Autumn. We also plan on launching a new collection of unisex pony clothes for all our pony mad cubs, so watch this space!

Thank you to everyone for your support, it really does mean the world to us and I guarantee that every time a sale comes through, two 20-something (actually 30-something!) Mums do a little dance in their kitchen :).