The idea to incorporate natural dyes came about through a chance meeting, in the poetic way that canal travel tends to produce coincidental encounters and unexpected relationships.

We were exploring the Peak Forest Canal one summer – a beautiful stretch of the waterways that snakes through a landscape steeped in the history of industrial spinning. Mooring up on quiet stretches of towpath we could look across the Goyt Valley straight into the hills and valleys of the Peak District.

On the map, New Mills looked much like any other small former market town, but venturing in by bike one day Laurence stumbled across a weaving studio and local makers shop.

Inside, conversation with Annie Greatorex (aka Wild Spinster) quickly turned to natural dyes and the possibility of dyeing rope. Before long the first batches of rope for dyeing were travelling from boat to studio – towpath to town – by backpack, from one side of the valley to the other.