Lincs Pride JAN 222.qxp 24/11/2020 16:38 Page 33
DORRINGTON HALL CANDLES
FLAME and
FORTUNE If overpriced candles get on your wick, worry not…! You can still enjoy the warm glow of a flickering flame and some wonderful fragrances this winter, all for a thoroughly reasonable price thanks to Victoria Boardman. Her artisan candle brand – named after her Edwardian country home, Dorrington Hall – is really glowing strong despite being a flicker over a year old… Words: Rob Davis.
The burning question is: ‘why are some scented candles so expensive?’ Of course it’s always a sound proposition to pay for quality, but even the most ordinary of mass-produced candles command £20 and some upmarket brands sell for up to £50. Paying for a name could get right on your wick. It certainly did for Victoria Boardman; that’s why the Sleaford artisan decided to create her own range of Natural Sustainable fragranced candles, diffusers, room mists and melts. Nobody can hold a candle to Victoria’s products in terms of their quality or the fair price at which she’s selling them (£16.50/50hr burn; £10/25hr burn; £10/12melts). And her most successful range of melts is especially innovative, because their letterbox-friendly packaging enables you to send something thoughtful and beautifully scented right through the letterbox of your friend or relative. It’s been a busy couple of years for Victoria, with 2018 seeing the birth of her daughter Beatrice, plus a move into the family’s Edwardian country home – Dorrington Hall, which she and husband Mark are in the process of renovating. Victoria is project managing the conversion of their Coach House into a stunning holiday retreat, and then, of course, there’s the creation of her new business. Life is a bit busy, to say the least, for Victoria who is also a hobby breeder of labradoodles and ragdoll cats. She also has sons Edward, aged nine and Brian, aged eight to look after, as well as Beatrice. Happily though, she’s still found the time to innovate with her scent-sational ranges. “I’ve always loved being creative, and having tried the usual crafts, I found myself giving candlemaking a try in 2018, whilst I was on maternity leave,” says Victoria. “It was absolutely fascinating; something that seemed so simple, initially, actually turned out to be a real skill.” “I persisted with each attempt I made and completed loads of research, eventually discovering some of the secrets of the craft. Christmas was coming up and I made a few gifts for family and friends. They absolutely loved them and convinced me others would love them too, I took a leap of faith and did my first Christmas market last year and started to develop a following online. I was then approached to wholesale in some of the counties finest shops. The belief people have shown in my products and myself who I haven’t even met online really helped me so much, and it made me believe I should turn a hobby into a business. Victoria didn’t initially realise just how good her products were – let alone why – but as her experience of the craft has grown, she’s come to realise that not all candles are created equally and that, as with so many things in life, you really do get what you pay for when it comes to a candle, albeit when you pay for quality, not for a brand. >> 33
