‘It wasn’t supposed to be this big’: How Bella’s ‘passion business’ became exciting ‘slow-luxury’ brand

What started for Bella Middleton as a “passion business” has since seen Norfolk Natural Living open six stores and develop more than 200 product lines.The “slow-luxury home care and wellbeing” brand, which sells cleaning products, fragrances, candles and more, has its workshop in Lynn – as well as two shops in Holt, and ones in Wells, Woodbridge, Southwold and London.Sitting down with me in an office in between the two stores on Shirehall Plain in the charming town of Holt last week, Bella explained how Norfolk Natural Living came to be.

“I had my first child and I started it because it was a passion business. It wasn’t supposed to be a passion business and it wasn’t supposed to be as big as it has become,” she said.The idea for Norfolk Natural Living’s first products came about when Bella gave her young son some coloured mashed potato, as she had read about the benefits of youngsters playing with different colours and textures.But, when she later discovered mash “everywhere”, she realised that there was a lack of chemical-free products to clean her child and the surfaces he was coming into contact with.

“I was doing the dishes and as I was cleaning it all up, I saw it said about killing 99% of bacteria and I thought – as well as stripping the surfaces – what is it doing to the children, their skin and their microbiome?” Bella said. Having already had a background in aromatherapy, this was the first moment that she thought about combining the practice with cleaning products.“I thought ‘is there something we can do?’ With how much washing and cleaning we do and sanitising our hands – why can’t we combine the two and make dishwashing pleasurable? “I wanted to make cleaning products that actually smell good, feel good, didn’t hurt the environment, and were child-safe and pet-safe.”Bella said the look of the items was also important to her. “Why shouldn’t it be as pleasurable as we can make it?” she said.But the process wasn’t that simple – with the business being about four years in the making before the first Norfolk Natural Living shop opened in Holt in 2019. Bella’s career to dateBella, who grew up in Scotland, didn’t start her career as a businesswoman. She was a drama school student and worked in London in film production, before moving to a job in recruitment, where she met her now-husband Hugo.“I always thought I wanted to do theatre and film production and have that sort of creativity where you can be physically and emotionally moved by something,” she said.“But I need to be passionate about something.”

Her career then pivoted to setting up her own bakery, which saw her deliver goods to restaurants and homes on her bike – something that she “loved” but that was “not sustainable”. Staying in the business world, Bella started learning about aromatherapy and set up a company making gifts and fabric gift wraps which were sold at the National Gallery in London around 20 years ago, and later skincare, for which she started her own website.“That’s when I realised how difficult it was to run a physical shop,” she said, but, without much opportunity for creativity, she “fell out of love” with it.In particular, she found it “heartbreaking” when she was making products which would be “ripped off” by bigger brands mere months later.“You can only take it for so long, but it’s relentless,” she said. “It’s so wholesale-driven. I would have a relationship with the retailer but we didn’t get the feedback apart from the sales.“So it was a real new situation to open a store and create cleaning products. It’s a totally new experience to build it and make it in a completely different way.“It’s not about what’s new, it’s about what’s great. It’s something I want to continue to do forever.”The ideal shopping experience Having opened her first Norfolk Natural Living shop in Holt in 2019, at that time, Bella was “just trying to see what people liked”.“My mum ran the shop, it’s a super family-orientated business. It was just such a wonderful experience,” she said.“Holt has developed quite a lot and we have learned a lot in the time since then.”Bella said the “biggest thing” she came to realise was that the community could come to have “such a connection” with a product she had created. “To be part of a small community – it’s wonderful – and to see it thrive too.”

In the six years that the business has been in the town, Bella said that “lots of” retail spaces have become occupied – making Holt “so much more interesting”.“People are coming to explore the town and they stumble across us – that’s what good retail should be,” she said.“You get what you want but you also have an experience and it’s fun and pleasurable. You don’t necessarily have to buy anything – although it’s great if you do.”Although the Covid-19 pandemic was a “really scary time” to be in retail, she says the town has only improved in that time. “We meet so many holidaygoers and around 90% or even 100% of stores in Holt are occupied so it’s a much better shopping experience here, it’s really exciting.“The idea of small businesses thriving – it’s great. Retail is hard, with tax increases which are challenging, but to have retail that actually speaks to the customer is brilliant.”The importance of Norfolk and Lynn for the businessAsked why she decided to have the business’ workshop in Lynn, Bella, who lives in the area with her husband, three children and her dog, said: “King’s Lynn is a bustling town and it’s really easy to get to. “We supply Sandringham – the King is really passionate about sustainability and we make the products within 15 miles of the estate, which is really important for him and the whole estate.”She added: “King’s Lynn is pretty and its architecture is so inspiring. It used to be such a rich town and has a long history.

“Also, being able to get to Cambridge on the train is great. I think it’s one of those areas that’s going to grow as people come out of London.“I think it’s going to become more exciting and there’s lots happening around it like Sandringham and Watatunga. There’s so many wonderful, exciting things going on in and around the area.”Having started making products in the family home, they soon found a unit on Lynn’s East Coast Business Park to use as a workshop – although they have since had to move to a new one in the same park as they quickly outgrew the original one.Now, 25 people – equal to about half of Norfolk Natural Living’s team – work there. From the Lynn workshop, the staff mix the products and label them, while also printing, designing and distributing.“We do everything there,” Bella said. “Every order that goes to another shop goes there.“Every online product is produced from there and we make everything for our stores there.“We pour our candles, make our perfumes, and make every sample product there.”She said that there are “lots of challenges” that come from running a business while also taking on manufacturing.“I could say to a manufacturer that I want 10,000 to be made and send them all the staff and then it’s their problem,” Bella said.“For us, we make a batch of a product and if you run out, that’s going to affect everyone on that day.“It can take a lot of head-scratching, but it’s really wonderful to say that it matters to us all.“So many products can be made on the day and you know that it has been handmade.“Every single product matters and that’s why when you pick up a product, you can know that it mattered to so many people to get to this point. It matters to us that you enjoy it.”Creating new productsHaving started the business with around 15 to 20 lines of mostly cleaning products, Bella soon turned her hand to home scenting.Now, the brand has around 200 lines with different scents and sizes within those lines, offering perfume, candles, aromatherapy, body care and more.But again, it is not always a straightforward process to bring an idea for a new item to life.

“Trying to create new formulas needs understanding and you’re bound to have some disasters,” Bella said.“It’s not necessarily the ingredients that are wrong, but it’s the quantities.”Among the company’s signature scents is Coastal Walks which was one of the first to be created, but when Bella initially thought about putting vinegar – an ingredient great for getting rid of stains and bringing the ‘sheen’ out of items – with coastal aromas, “it smelt like fish and chips”.“It’s a bit of common sense and it just didn’t work,” she said.“That’s a simple example of when you have an idea but actually creating it and getting it through testing is a very different thing.”And it’s not just Bella who comes up with visions for new offerings.“I love that new ideas for products come from everyone in the team and the customers,” she said.“They will suggest ideas and it can happen.”One example is a team member called Bex who suggested a spray to use for gift wrapping which has been a “really good seller”.“People can then have ownership of it.“I believe in that so much – everyone should have a voice and the chance to create something wonderful.”The ethos behind the brandMaking all of the products in Norfolk from the Lynn workshop is an “important part” of the business.“It makes us quite unique. I’m a passionate believer in teaching our staff and creating a craft.“We really do craft anything and we have such a sense of pride. In my mind, it makes a difference.

“It’s been loved at so many different points. We bottle the products in-house – everyone at work is a maker. It’s very much a complete product – whoever pours the candles then puts them in the box. You get that complete journey. I love it.“It’s like baking a cake. I would not want to take it anywhere else.”The team is made up of around 90% women, which is “just how it has fallen”.“It just so happens that in most of the cases, the best candidates have been women,“ Bella said.“Everyone who works for us is passionate about what they do. It’s really part of our ethos.“It wasn’t the plan to expand so much but the business started to be really successful.“We started to get a good response and I thought ‘oh wow, this could be a thing’.”Something else that is “intrinsic” to the brand is the belief in using its products to help maintain customers’ belongings and discourage throw-away culture.“I have a lot of my mum’s original clothes which are now considered vintage and a big part of my whole life is my belief in style over trends,” Bella said.She owns garments dating back between 50 and 70 years old, with some even from Victorian times.“I really believe you should nurture clothes, it’s not that hard. You can de-bobble a jumper, it always seems like extra work, you can re-zhuzh up a jumper if you know to use a specific product.“You can care for things, they don’t have to be thrown away. There are helpful tips on the bottle of our products.”Meanwhile, the effects on the environment and on people’s wellbeing also feature high on the brand’s list of priorities.“We also don’t want people to have to worry about toxins in the waterways,” Bella said.“I never thought of myself as a perfumer but I’m aware of aromatherapy and what it can do.“Smells can affect your nervous system and your sense of wellbeing.”The future of Norfolk Natural LivingAlthough Bella is anticipating opening two new stores this year, she said there is “no point in growing just to grow”.“When I look at other businesses, some take on so much debt and all they are doing is worrying about things that aren’t the core of the business,” she said.“They take on so much finance and they are just writing finance reports – that’s not what I set out to do.“I wake up every morning believing in this business and hopefully everyone else believes in it too.”

Norfolk Natural Living is set to open its seventh store in Aldeburgh at the end of this month, and there are plans to open an eighth too – although Bella can’t yet reveal where that may be.“We’re not quite sure when or where but the appetite is there – although it’s not necessarily set in stone,” she said.“You’ve got to do quite a lot to open a store, like sort out staffing and training, and it’s really important to find the right space as well.“I would like it to be an exciting thing for people to stumble across us so we need a place to deliver that.“You definitely have to have an emotional connection to a space. The first thing is always to find a space that for me resonates in that sense and we can add a bit more ‘Norfolk Natural Living-ness’ to it.”To find out more about Norfolk Natural Living, visit www.norfolknaturalliving.com or find the company on Facebook and Instagram.