ABOUT US

In a recent nationwide survey the Sussex trug was voted the fifth most essential gardening accessory. A truly very appreciated gift by all gardeners, even if they already own one.  There are of course other options available - multicoloured plastic trugs - buckets, poor quality foreign replica imports etc etc. 
All trugs are hand made by myself and in 1970 while working for another company, I designed 'the harlequin' trug. This was submitted to the British Design Centre by the managing Director and subsequently awarded the Standard kite mark for design excellence. In June (2011) my trugs were chosen as 'best-for-style' in the very popular Grown-Your-Own magazine.
I work alone with the exception of my wife Jaqui PhD (packaging and handling department) and sign and date every trug on the base. Thanks to Jaqui, we offer very rapid delivery, if a trug is ordered before 10:30 A.M. you will receive it the next day via Fed-Ex, so if it's a last minute present, just ring us. Jaqui can also include a personal message on a card if you wish (no charge).

'If ' you can find hand made Sussex trugs cheaper than mine, I'll polish your car with a cotton bud! The reason? My overheads are very low, no office staff, no company car (I don't drive) and fed only once per day. Last year while attending a woodcraft fair, a nearby maker, after (I assume) examining my prices cleared his stock and went home!

There are foreign imports available from garden centres that are what they are and usually higher priced than my trugs! I also offer a lifetime guarantee, an unlikely event with imported wanabees? Should you, for whatever reason, need to return a trug, no problem, a full refund will be given upon receipt of the trug. It did happen, but only once, a gentleman bought it for his wife who left him for their gardener. He obviously already had a trug! Lesson to be learned - buy now before it's too late!

Then, 19 years old, slim,
long blonde hair.

Now, 50+ (age! not waist)
no hair (nice colour though!)

I commenced working life at fifteen as an apprentice watchmaker, much to the disappointment of my father as he was a woodsman, so both expected and wanted me to follow him. He said being a watchmaker was a "pansies job"! Three situations led me into trugmaking:- 
                             Firstly, some bright spark invented the digital watch, thus rendering the majority of watchmakers to either
                             unemployment or redirection and eventually one could buy 10 digital watches for the price of a service to a
                             mechanical watch and to be truthful, they were infinitely better timekeepers! 
                             Secondly, my Father died and as my mother died four years earlier, I had to enter the world of bedsit-land on an
                             impossible apprentices wage of £4 10 shillings listening to Leonard Cohen (music to cut-yer-throat by!!).
                            Thirdly, I felt an underlying feeling that I should be working in wood, as my father desired. So, cutting a very long
                             story short, I found a job as a trainee trugmaker and learned the trade.

                                           Some years later, I was lured into carpentry and spent many years building Log Cabins all over the
                                           country (Dad would have been proud of me!).
                                           Whilst this was very rewarding as it enabled me to see the most beautiful parts of both this country and
                                           others, I was travelling on average 2,000 miles per week before being on site for 45+ hours per week. If the
                                           work site was in excess of 2 ½ driving hours, we would stay in accomodation.

                                                 
                            
                              During these periods away from home, I spent many evening hours in B&B's & Hotels writing a book titled 'How
                              To Solve  Cryptic Crosswords'. The first publisher I approached liked it, published it and has since sold almost one
                              million copies (sadly, if you google Kevin Skinner, I come up as an author not a trugmaker!). While working in
                              Inverness Scotland, during breakfast in a B&B, a resident brought in her daughter and sat her in a high chair. The
                              child was so like my beautiful little daughter Stevie, I missed her so much I knew I couldn't continue this occupation,
                              I found the toilet, had a little cry (my dad was right, I am a pansy) so decided there and then to find a workshop in
                              my hometown of Hailsham, return to what I enjoyed most, and see my family daily. So that's what I did - and here I
                              am. I don't groan anymore when I wake on a Monday morning, conversely, I'm excited to be going to work doing
                              what I love. I am constantly asked by customers "how can you make trugs cheaper than anyone else"? Simple! I
                              work hard and have no dinner or lunch breaks as I cannot just sit there and look at material waiting to be transformed.
                              I have no large overheads, just Jaqui! (disregard that last statement!) I have no watch (digital or otherwise), I go to
                              work when I wake, and cycle home when I'm tired (via my local, Jaqui thinks I work an hour longer than I actually
                              do). Additionally, those that sell at vastly higher prices sell less numbers; I need to be fully employed. So here we are.

Kevin

Jaqui