Inspired by Nature

This article first appeared in our autumn ’18 issue of MyGreenPod Magazine, The Consumer Revolution, distributed with the Guardian on 16 Nov 2018. Click here to subscribe to our digital edition and get each issue delivered straight to your inbox

The link between where and how – and even why – your skincare is made is often overlooked. For Pure Lakes Skincare all of these things are important and connected.

The beautiful Lake District National Park was recently awarded World Heritage status; it’s here that Pure Lakes’ award-winning products are handmade, using the company’s own natural formulations.

The company is informed by the same beautiful lakes and fells that moved Wordsworth and Ruskin; its Active & Therapeutic Range is inspired by the surroundings, and has won plaudits from long-term sufferers of psoriasis, eczema and arthritis.

One of Pure Lakes’ bestsellers is the Dry Skin Balm; it blends essential oils including patchouli, chamomile and lavender, specially chosen to reduce inflammation and calm the skin. Combined with deeply nourishing coconut butter, avocado oil and shea butter, it’s a go-to balm for many customers with dry skin or more serious skin conditions.

Why do it?

Running a manufacturing business from a rural location, let alone a national park, is not without its challenges. Living costs, public transport issues and supply chain logistics are just the start. So why do it?

It’d be much easier to sell skincare products manufactured by third parties in anonymous industrial estates, but Claire and Gareth McKeever are part of a close-knit community where everyone is accountable to each another.

They view job creation as a way to ease the tension of living in a tourism destination where people live and work all year round. Employment provides demand for everyday services like schools and doctors’ surgeries, which are critical in such a rural spot – and one where the cost of living is particularly high.

Wordsworth wrote of the ‘grandeur in the beatings of the heart’. It’s heartening to think the fells and lakes he loved continue to inspire small, passionate businesses like Pure Lakes, in turn supporting working communities that continue to make the Lake District what it is today.