Several years ago we had a stand at Equitana, the huge equine fair in Germany.  During the show Tony, our MD, did his normal 'trawl' of the stands in our hall and came back bearing these lumps of pink salt.  He was very enthusiastic about selling them in the UK and response from the rest of us was muted "but its just a salt lick", "who's going to want to buy another salt lick?" and so-on.

Well, to cut a long story short, we started to import the licks in three sizes Baby, Medium and Large, and in our first year of selling the Himalayan Salt Licks we sold 30,000 baby licks!

The Himalayan Salt Licks are obviously distinctive by their colour, however its not just this that sets them apart from other licks.  They are a 550 million year old source of minerals and trace elements for your horse or pony.  We like to describe them as salt licks with "nothing added and nothing taken out" and we believe they are the purest form of salt available.  The distinctive rose pink colour comes from the mineral content, such as iron, potassium and magnesium, all of which are vital for maintaining health.

The original three lick sizes were closely followed by the Cow Block, the Mini lick (designed to fit into a hanging plastic holder) and finally our latest offering, the Salt Block, which fits into most traditional wall-mounted holders.

Our salt licks come from Pakistan and we deal with a lovely guy called Miam who spent several years in the UK, and has a Bsc in Agriculture from the University of Aberystwyth.  We've been taken to task on occasions about the carbon footprint of our salt licks, however in our defence we know we are helping to assure employment for local people, in an area where life is not easy at the best of times.  Intially we romantically thought that the salt licks where carried down on the backs of yaks, however Miam has told us quite firmly that all the transport is done with mountain trains!  Oh well, it made a pretty picture! 

 We have just calculated that to date we have sold 90 tons of salt licks - not bad for "just another salt lick"!

For more info about our Himalayan Salt Licks please visit our website www.hiltonherbs.com

Janice, our Accountant, is responsible for a myriad of things financial, from ensuring we all get paid on time to managing stock levels in our US warehouse.  Janice's life is ruled by Keera, a 6-month old silver spotted Bengal cat.  Keera represents a new breed created about 20 years ago by crossing a Bengal wild cat with a domestic tabby.

Janice says her cat is very different to a normal cat.  She says Keera can get very jealous and is fiercely territorial, she is a wonderful climber and can go up a tree hanging upside down like a sloth!  They love water - Keera will jump into the bath given half a chance - Janice has to keep the toilet lid down otherwise Keera plays with the water.  She has also gone swimming in the pond with the goldfish and caught one!

It's a well known fact that cats like to bring 'gifts' home for their owners - mice, birds, shrews, the odd rabbit or two - but Janice was presented with a live chicken that had been pilfered from a neighbour down the road. The culprit was Kimi, her three year old brown spotted Bengal, who had climbed over two 6 foot fences with the chicken in her mouth.  She dropped it at Janice's feet and, apart from a couple of missing feathers and ruffled dignity, the chicken was returned to her owners unharmed.  As Janice says, Bengal cats are different!!!'

Its the time of the year when, here at Downclose Farm, we're making the most of Nature's bounty - we've been out in the garden collecting Marigold (calendula officinalis) flowers.  This fabulous plant is fun and easy to grow.  The flowers contain both essential oils and pro-vitamin A and calendula is well known for its affinity to epithelial tissue.  It is soothing and healing and is the principal ingredient in a variety of skin creams and ointments.  You can also make a lotion from the flowers for bathing sore, tired, eyes.  Please note that the instructions and method for making Calendula oil can also be used to make Hypericum Oil from the flowers of Hypericum perforatum.

 Making Calendula oil is easy and you can get the kids to help you collect the flowers.

• collect the flowers on a dry, sunny, day, to make sure there is no dampness left in the flowers as this can cause mould to grow in the oil
• place a good quantity of flowers into a large glass jar and cover the flowers with Extra Virgin Olive oil, or Sweet Almond Oil
• stir the flowers to make sure they are well immersed in the oil
• place the lid on the jar and stand it on a sunny window sill
• leave the jar in the sun, this can take several days, or even weeks (depending on the weather), until the oil has turned a sunny orange colour
• strain the oil through muslin or a fine strainer, squeezing the flowers to extract all the oil
• pour the oil into sterilized bottles and store in a cool, dark, place.

 Marigold - Calendula officinalis

Hilary Self Bsc MNIMH

Our Helpline is one of the best in the business and our philosophy has always been "advise first and sell later", so people are comfortable telephoning us for advice knowing they will not be pressurised to buy.  Jane, who runs the Helpline, joined Hilton Herbs in 2001, after working for many years for the RSPCA.  She has endless patience and spends her day talking to customers and taking telephone and internet orders.  She gets asked the most amazing questions; from "where can I get a herb mix for my paddock" to "what should I give to my itchy llama". 

Jane, who is married to John, says her life is ruled by Millie, a 9 year old rescued Staffie x Jack Russell bitch, who is full of energy and with lots of spirit.  Millie is pictured during a 3-day walk along the Coleridge Way, in Somerset.

Tamsyn and Anastarsia are the horses in Jane & John's life.  Tammy did very well in endurance riding and was raced three times, including once at the illustrious Goodwood Park.  Anastarsia, or Ani, is her lovely filly, by the handsome Arab racing stallion, Sambist, whose services were won in a raffle at the Arab Show at Malvern, and who certainly passes on his striking Russian Arab looks!  Ani was bred for endurance but in fact has led an easy life, although she has done very well in her show outings.

Ani and Tammy are pictured here with their friend Poldark Pendragon, a TB/Clydesdale gelding who turned his hooves to just about everything, even coming 8th in the Arab Horse Marathon during a 10-year endurance career.  Grass was his great love, either eating it or cantering over it, but he cantered away a few years back is still sorely missed.

'Top people' at Hilton Herbs have to be the members of the Downclose menagerie, Downclose Farm being the Hilton Herbs HQ.  Yogi, the Doberman, "F", Merlin, and Nellie, the horses, the four sheep and the small herd of Red Ruby Devon cattle - not forgetting Blot, the cat, all belong to Hilary & Tony Self, co-Directors and co-owners of Hilton Herbs Ltd.

Home for Yogi (and of course Hilary & Tony) is a lovely ham-stone farmhouse just outside the village of North Perrott, in South Somerset.  Yogi is ten years old and until very recently shared his home with Sadie, a black & tan Doberman bitch.  Sadly Sadie is no longer with us but, after a brief period of 'mourning', Yogi seems a happier more confident dog as Sadie was a bit of a bully!  Two years ago Yogi was diagnosed with Wobblers Syndrome and surgery was proposed, however Hilary, who is a fully qualified Medical Herbalist, decided to put him on the liquid herbal mix she had formulated for CDRM.  This mix has very successfully stabilised his condition with only minimal deterioration.

The Hilton Herbs horses are an eclectic bunch.  Flamengo, or "F" as he's more commonly known is a purebred Lusitano, imported from Portugal as a sprightly 4 year old, he's now the old man of the herd at 19 years young.  "F"'s girlfriend is Aunty Nelly, a Thoroughbred mare, bought by Hilary & Tony many years ago at Doncaster sales, and who has bred them several nice foals.  Tony's Merlin is a Lusitano/Anglo-Arab gelding who is now sem-retired, having been a successful endurance horse for many years.  The horses are kept as naturally as possible, with 24/7 turnout for at least nine months of the year, and get a mix of Hilton supplements like Hoof & Health, garlic, Veteran, Top Coat, Reflex and so-on.

The small herd of Red Ruby Devons help with pasture maintenance and the steers provide meat for Hilary & Tony, their friends and family.  Staff at Hilton Herbs are also able to buy this lovely meat, from cattle who eat nothing but grass in the summer and home-grown haylage in the winter.  The four sheep are 'retired' and are also important members of the pasture maintenance team.  In the winter their feed is supplemented with Hilton Herbpower.

Which just leaves Blot the cat who is keeps the mice and rabbits under control and spends her days sleeping in the offices during the winter!

Over the next week or so we'll be introducing you to everyone who works at Hilton Herbs, but to put a slight twist on it we'll introduce them through their animals and pets!  Virtually all the Hilton Herbs folk have got one or more pets and we'll introduce them in bite-sized chunks to give you all an excuse to keep on coming back to The Blog!

Today we had a visit from Anna and Renata, from Poland, who we hope will be distributing the Hilton Herbs products in Poland and other eastern European countries - more news on that later.

We also heard that Hilton Herbs has been selected to be judged for the Somerset Business Awards 2009 which is very exciting - we're used to winning awards for our trade stands - we won Best Large Stand award several times at Your Horse Live! - so why not for the business!

If you haven't heard about us already, we are arguably Europe's leading manufacturer of herbal feed supplements & topical products for animals.

Hilton Herbs was started in 1990 by Hilary and Tony SELF, hence the name (Hil-Ton), and has nothing whatsoever to do with the Hilton Hotels Group.  In fact Hilary & Tony endured a 5-year-long court battle with the Hilton Hotels Group over the use of the name 'Hilton' which gained them national press coverage and an interview with John Humphreys on Radio 4!  As Tony commented at the time, "No-one has ever tried to book a room with us!"

Right from the start the Hilton Herbs philosophy has been 'service before sales' and the Helpline is an essential part of the business, providing customers with friendly, helpful, advice on a range of topics, from itchy alpacas to low libido in a Belgian Blue bull, stressing at the same time that a customer's first port of call should be their veterinary surgeon.

When customers are ready to buy they can choose from a range of products, manufactured using EFSIS-accredited facilities, deep in the Somerset countryside.  Products are formulated by Hilary Self, who is a fully-qualified Medical Herbalist, and member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists.  Hilton Herbs products are manufactured using human-grade herbs sourced worldwide using reputable herb-wholesalers.

The Hilton Herbs team is made up of local people, many of whom have their own animals and so help contribute to our extensive knowledge base.  At Downclose Farm, the Hilton Herbs HQ near Crewkerne, we have horses, Red Devon cattle, sheep, chickens, dogs and Blot, the cat, all of whom are treated at varying times with our product.

Via The Blog we hope to provide you with useful info (without the hard sell) on complementary therapies and provide you with informative articles and links to associated websites.  In the meantime if you would like further information visit our website www.hiltonherbs.com

If once you've visited our website you find you're interested in our products keep checking The Blog, our website, our Facebook page and Twitter, for details of any compeitions and special offers - particularly during the build-up to launch of our new website due at the end of October!

Hilary & Tony doing what they do when they're not running Hilton Herbs!