I went to Stoke on Trent last week to visit my friend Emma Bridgewater’s factory. Forever patriotic, Emma and her husband Matthew have designed a fabulous range of Jubilee china.

Sales are soaring as they did for their fine royal wedding mug last year. By all accounts, David Hockney has also bought a few “60 years a Queen” mugs!

Hats off to made in Britain and Bridgewater pottery.

Working at Brora head office you’ll often find that the usual topic of conversation revolves around what was on the telly the night before, as well as our favourite shows. One of which is the hard-hitting reality show “The Apprentice” on BBC1.

Last week on follow-on show “The Apprentice: You’re fired” a number of us at the office were delighted to see noted British interior designer Kelly Hoppen on the panel wearing our immensely popular cashmere cropped cardigan in Stone.

Our cropped cardigan can be worn with anything and that is the very reason why women love to add the piece to their wardrobes. Its versatility is the very reason why fierce foodie Nigella Lawson has one in every colour.

The Apprentice is on tonight on BBC1 at 9pm where the budding contestants are set with the challenge producing an innovative fitness routine/technique to sell to the public. We can’t wait to see how they get on!

As much as we enjoy looking at the Brora Baby snaps you send us through our Facebook and Twitter, we love seeing your four-legged bundles of joy also! Over the past month we’ve been inundated with cute and cuddly pictures of dogs and cats alike who adore Brora as much as their fellow human companions do.

Could it be that we need to start producing a collection for pets?

After all, a dog’s life is not what it used to be, it consists of facials, the latest designer outfits and Swaroski encrusted collars a.k.a ‘bling’.

It is only natural that they would soon start to crave our sumptuous Brora blankets over the regular cotton doggy ones; at least you can get your bed back now.

This is the charming little Chihuahua Honey. The pint-sized pup lives a luxurious life better than your average dog, her owner Hayley works in Brora head office and has at least half a dozen lambswool blankets for her.

The feline following are also big fans of our lambswool rugs also. They do tend to have a reputation for craving the finer things in life and turning their little noses up at anything less.

It is really no surprise to us that your pets love our and lambswool rugs; they’re great for picnics and decorating the sofa or snuggling down with, but we quickly discovered on a past photo shoot the appeal of the rugs.

Little did we know it would make such a great image.

The cosy looking set attracted the attention of Victoria’s, whippets Honey Bee and Flee Fly, a pair of pampered pooches who have been modelling for Brora since they were tiny rumbustious puppies.

Online, catalogue and print! Not many models can make such a boast.

All of you pictures have got us inspired so thank-you and look out for more Pets In Brora.

My mother is so special because…

There are probably 101 reasons why we all believe our mothers to be such extraordinary people in our lives, however we are setting you the challenge of summarising why in just 30 words.

Be in with the chance of winning our charming Tropical Garden Scarf from the Riviera collection worth £95, simply by entering our competition online Mother’s Day competition.

Perhaps you would like to nominate your mother purely because she is wonderful and such a continual support in your life.

Another reason could be that she is always on-hand with the children and so this piece would be a lovely gesture of affection for their grandmother.

This is Victoria’s mother with youngest daughter Lola, who is every bit the doting grandparent and much like Victoria, she loves bold colours and patterned items.

We are choosing five winners so make it a good one and tell us why your mother is so special!

The competition ends midnight Monday 12^th March, you can enter online here.

We all know how the years creep up on us and believe it or not Brora is nineteen today.

Usually becoming older is a fretful thing but we hope that at Brora the years have added a little wisdom to the business, what we design and how we serve our customers.

This is largely due to the drive and enthusiasm of our founder and creative director Victoria Stapleton, taking Brora from one London based shop to a further thirteen across the U.K.

Brora shop at Symons Street; the culmination of Victoria’s dreams.

“I started Brora in 1993 because I was passionate about Scottish textiles, especially cashmere & tweeds.

“I strongly believe in ‘made in Britain and the vast majority of the products that we sell at Brora are still made in this country”.

Our cashmere Queen is ever the hands on sort and never too busy for a personal meet and greet shopping experience for all her customers. Look out for the special events at a Brora shop near you!

Victoria’s family is also a key element behind the Brora brand. Her three children feature regularly in Brora photo shoots, all have been modelling our children’s clothing from babies. I’m sure many of you would recognise them having delighted in dressing your own children as you’ve seen the girls grow.

Husband Johnnie is responsible for all our fantastic images for the web, catalogues and in store canvases. As a professional photographer he is the perfect addition to the Brora team, Victoria and he have spent many years shooting together.

Like the children on the Brora spring 2012 photo shoot, we too will certainly be celebrating.

On behalf of Victoria and from the rest of us at Brora, we would like to say a special thank you to you for your loyalty and custom.