Check out the pic of this lovely Cardboard Palace sent in to us over the weekend by Ruby and Rosa.  The girls opted for a very appropriate shade of pink which we agree looks very smart and should attract any lonesome Prince Charmings in the neighbourhood to come a-knocking.

Guaranteed to provide hours of creative play, the Cardboard Palace is currently available for £11.99 and for the boys check out the rather menacing looking Pirate Fortress for some swashbuckling adventures.

Chicken Doorstops, Snake Draught Excluders and Catnip Mice – three of our favourite products here on ECOutlet and all born from the minds of Kerry and Nick Robertson.  We recently caught up with Kerry for a chat who filled us in on the origins of their eco-friendly creations.

Your products are all made with vintage and reclaimed fabrics and attention is paid to ensure all packaging is biodegradable or recyclable.  What motivated or inspired you to set up business in the green sector and work in an environmentally conscious manner?

When we set up in 2005 we thought that if this was going to be our business then it should reflect our ethics and concern for climate change. If we were going to go into manufacture and retail whatever we did had to have a minimal impact on the environment.
From the beginning we started to design things with that in mind, using recycled vintage fabrics, sizing objects so that there would be little waste or creating items that could be made from the offcuts. Even the idea of making the chicken doorstops flat packed was born out of the wish to have something that was light to transport so that we didn’t need to drive our car to Greenwich Market every weekend – now we can take the bus! Creatively speaking, thinking in that way gives us a definable boundary to work within so we’re not blinded by options, for example we may never have come up with the buckwheat hulls as stuffing for our snakes if we hand not been looking for a sustainable, biodegradable alternative and it turns out that they work far better than the traditional fibre filling.

The materials you use are described as vintage and reclaimed.  Can you give us an idea of what types of uses they might have had before or the kinds of places you source the fabric?

For the last 5 years I have built up quite a hoard of fabric which I source from markets, ebay and secondhand shops. I can spot what I’m looking for in a instant, the design for our funky chicken doorstop was based around the repeated patterned fabrics that were very fashionable in the sixties and seventies so if I see any of that whether it be on a pinny, tablecloth or pair of curtains, I grab it and will have it fashioned into a chicken in no time.

All the items are handmade here in the UK by yourselves.  How important is this aspect of the business to you?

We are very proud of the fact that we have not outsourced the manufacture of our products to China or India which would really be defeating the object – though even if we wanted to I don’t know if it would be possible to send an old pinny to china and have it come back as a chicken doorstop!

The snake draught excluders are definitely in my top three eco products of all time.  Do you have a favourite eco friendly product?

My favourite eco friendly product has to be the good old sewing machine – it’s amazing what you can do with one – make and mend and even start a whole new career.  If I was a purist I would get an old peddle-powered singer but I may not get much work done.

If you could give our readers one eco tip to incorporate into their lifestyles this month what would it be?

If you want your perfect pair of jeans to stay on the right side of worn and you don’t want the thread bare bits to turn into rips iron on some mender to the inside, something like korbond, you can get it from the supermarket and it’s a super easy way to extend the life of a garment.

Finally, which came first the chicken or the snake?

Now that would be telling.

Check out this video interview with Kresse Wesling on Ethical TV. Kresse formed Elvis & Kresse, the people who manufacture and supply us here at ECOutlet with our Slider Belt, Skinny Stitch Belt, Fire Hose Cufflinks and Fire Hose Wash Bag.

Using redundant materials including retired fire hoses and old parachutes, Elvis & Kresse make stunning lifestyle accessories which have been designed to last. As a social enterprise they also donate 50% of the profits back to the Fire Fighters Charity.

It’s all inspiring stuff and great for everyone (me included) to put a face to the brand.

I spotted on BBC News last week that a Danish hotel has begun to offer free meal vouchers to their guests in return for producing a minimum of 10 watt hours of electricity on the gym bikes.

Always on the lookout for incentives to get my lazy self exercising more, on first inspection, I thought Wow – this is cool, why aren’t all gyms getting members to generate their own electricity. Then I looked again at that figure, 10 watt hours of electricity – so that would be enough energy to power a 10W lightbulb for an hour.

Hmmm.. maybe Pedal Power is not quiet there in terms of making our gyms entirely green zones. On inspection I find that over the course of an hour, the average human can expect to generate about 40 or 50W on a bicycle.  During the same period, someone running on a treadmill in the gym will use somewhere between 1.5 and 3 kW depending on the model of treadmill.  That’s a lot of people sweating it out on bikes to make the treadmill carbon neutral.

The ‘Human Power Experiment’ illustrated just how inefficient people are at generating electricity last year when they showed it took 18 cyclists to power a hairdryer, 9 to power a toaster and 30 cyclists power pedaling to boil the kettle!

So, my earlier vision of carbon neutral, entirely self-powered gyms is still a few years away at least.

Fear not though – getting fit without the carbon consumption of treadmills and electronic gym equipment is still entirely possible and within reach of everyone!

Now that Spring is here, the evenings are brighter for longer and the temperatures are perfect for a spot of outdoor exercising. Just one hour of power walking, jogging or cycling would burn approximately 300, 590 or 530 calories (speed dependent) and require 0 watts of electricity.

If you still prefer using training machines to get fit, Outdoor gyms are now cropping up all over the place, we’ve got one in the park at the end of our road. These offer self-powered gym equipment like cross trainers and chest presses free of charge in the great outdoors.

The Big Boot Company in London offers outdoor fitness sessions across the capital or you could sign up to one of the many Green Gyms across the country.  Members get involved in some rigorous work-outs via conservation or gardening work – a great alternative to the conventional gym.

If you are up for trying your hand at a little Grow Your Own this year, we have just added a whole new category to the website which includes Raised Bed Kits, Patio Raised Beds, Tomato Planters, Strawberry Planters, Potato Planters and Grow Bag Covers – a whole plethora of goodies to ensure that even those of us with the smallest of outdoor spaces can reap a crop of home-grown veggies and herbs this year.

Here’s our Top 10 reasons why we like growing our own food!

1. Saves money – a packet of £1 seeds goes a long way compared to shop bought herbs and veg.
2. Helps bring our carbon footprint down. Food grown at home doesn’t travel anywhere.  Compare this to food flown in from all around the planet and driven round the country in lorries.  Home-grown wins hands down.
3. We don’t add any nasty chemical or pesticides so we know exactly what has gone into the food we grow at home.
4. Lots of shop-bought veg and herbs come wrapped in plastic packaging. You can avoid more of this landfill fodder by growing your own.
5. Growing stuff chills us out!  There’s nothing nicer or more relaxing than spending a couple of hours tending to plants.  Garden work brings those stress levels right down.
6. Its good exercise – digging, lifting, moving, sweeping – even in small outdoor vegetable spaces or working with planters you can burn off lots of calories.
7. You can be adventurous.  Take the humble tomato.  There are around 7500 different varities grown so you can experiment and try out something you would never be able to buy at the supermarket.  It’s exciting to see what the results will be.
8. It’s a brilliant lesson for kids.  Getting them involved shows them the food on the plate doesn’t just come from a shop shelf and that actually it’s from the ground and we need to look after the land.  We’ve also managed to turn a couple of fussy eaters on to more vegetables by getting them to pick their own.
9. It’s super healthy. Freshly picked vegetables are packed full of nutrients.  Transfer veg straight from the garden to kitchen to plate and you benefit from all those freshly picked healthy vitamins.
10. Sharing is caring.  Growing your own means you can share your home-grown crop with friends, family and work colleagues.

If you believe the forecasters, 2010 looks set to be a sizzler (possibly maybe) with temperatures matching that of the 1976 summer heatwave.

Sounds nice! After our extended Winter the thoughts of a long, hot summer and lazy evenings with a beer outdoors definitely push lots of buttons for me.  But as we gear up for Summer, whatever the weather outcome, you can be sure the warmer months will be putting pressure on the UK’s precious water resources.

According to Waterwise, the South of England has less water available than the Sudan and Syria and many parts of the UK are currently dealing with the lowest groundwater and reservoir levels for decades.

One of the problems is our thirst for water which has been increasing by 1% a year since 1930, a figure which is not sustainable in the long term.  To address the problem, we can all make a difference by reducing our consumption and using water more efficiently at home.

Showers account for around 12% of our water use and one way to decrease this water usage is through the installation of a water saving shower head such as the Nordic Eco Shower Head.  This innovative shower head reduces average flow rate and thereby water consumption by 50-70% without any reduction in shower comfort thanks to a clever technology which works on a soft pulse basis.

This week marked World Water Day and to do our bit to raise awareness for the rest of March and throughout the month of April, we have placed the Nordic Eco Shower Head on sale with a special offer price of £38.50 which is 15% of the usual RRP of £44.99.

We also have 3 Nordic Eco Shower Heads up for grabs in our latest competition.  If you fancy your chances of winning one and saving up to 70% on water usage in the shower simply send an email to comps@ecoutlet.co.uk with the subject title Nordic Eco Shower and your email address will be entered into the draw.

Competition is only open to UK and Ireland residents.  Three winners will be selected randomly on April 30th and will be notified via email.

For our first foray into product videos we decided to go with some of our favourite picks from across the store so for your viewing pleasure we bring you the premiere of the Paper Potter, Eco Kettle 2 and Presso Coffee Maker movies below!

So far we’ve added videos for the Ecoflap, Pedalite Bike Lights, Presso Coffee Maker and several of the recycled glasses including the Sol Beer Bottle Glasses.

Over the coming weeks and months we’re looking to make this is a regular monthly feature so keep checking back here for updates on all the latest new additions.

We all love to treat our Mums once in a while and if youre planning a little gift for yours this coming Mothers Day how about something with a lighter footprint on the environment or which might inspire her to live a little greener?  Here’s a few of our favourites from across the store:

Gardens will soon be springing back into life and if your mum’s the green fingered type, the gift of a Tree is something which will give pleasure for years to come, our two favourites at this time of the year – the Plum Tree and Grape Vine Gifts will make a special gift for any Mums who love spending time in their garden and appreciate growing their own fruit.

Mums who garden will also love the ever-popular Paper Potter which makes biodegradable paper pots for seedlings whilst the floral and vegetable shaped Forget Me Not and Grow Recycled Plant Labels are a pretty way to organise vegetable and flower patches. For the disorganised Mum in the garden, this Garden Planner made from recycled coffee cups should help ensure all those little jobs get sorted.

Alternatively the Pocket Garden plant range make a thoughtful gift for Mum’s with no outdoor spaces and are an easy, attractive way to grow house plants such as Lavender, Marigold, Poppies and Sunflowers.   Or for the Mum with a windowsill full of plants, these Pot Plant Holders add a big cheery, splash of bright colours using recycled vegetable sacks.

If you’re a practical gift giver, perhaps you’d like to help your Mum save some money on energy bills and for this we’d suggest the Eco Kettle which helps ensure only the correct amount of water, energy and money is spent each time the kettle is boiled.
If Mum’s living with draughts, then one of our vintage Snake Draught Excluders will keep chills at bay, heating bills down and will have her reminiscing of the psychedelic 70’s when these were a familiar site in everyone’s home.

Finally if you just want your Mum to have a little ‘me-pampering-time’ then something from the Figs and Rouge Bodycare range will be perfect.  Combining natural and vintage inspired aromas with organic ingredients, this gorgeous range moisturises and nourishes from head to toe.  Choices include the Sweet Geranium Gift Set, Rambling Rose Hand and Foot Set or Rambling Rose Facial Toner, Facial Cleanser and Day Cream.

Now in its third year, UK Aware has become the must visit event for anyone seeking out new ways to lead a green and ethical lifestyle.  This year the event takes place on Friday 16^th and Saturday 17^th of April at Londons Olympia Two with over 15,000 green-minded folk anticipated to attend.

I think we cover a lot of bases here at ECOutlet when it comes to ideas for a greener lifestyle but I’ll hold my hands up and admit that UK Aware does pack them in and on both occasions in the last two years were I’ve gone along I was really impressed with the range of exhibitors and the number of events taking place over the day.  You can easily spend several hours at the event taking in a couple of guest speakers, browsing the exhibitors and learning more about home renewable technologies.

Visitors to the event this year can expect to see over 50 guest speakers, hundreds of eco exhibitors, a massive clothes swap, GreenTech zone as well as a kids interactive area.

Tickets for the event will be £15 on the door but ECOutlet have managed to secure some reduced price £6 tickets for any of our customers looking to pop along. To obtain your discounted £6 tickets simply click through the link below.

Get UK Aware tickets for £6