Prince Charles is bringing the humble Sussex trug to Highgrove House.

Great Trugs of Sussex in Herstmonceaux has been making the wooden baskets since the 1820s.

The company received the royal warrant from Queen Victoria and has been supplying the Queen and the royal estate at Windsor.

The firm has grown a worldwide fan base and makes up to 10,000 handmade trugs a year.

Robin Tuppen, who runs the business with his wife Sue, said the first batch of trugs had just been shipped to the Prince's official residence.

He said: "We've no idea how many will sell. Highgrove isn't open to the public but it hosts business events. The people who go there are quite wealthy and we're hoping they like the trugs."

The company has just taken on three more craftsmen, bringing the total to 12.

Mr Tuppen wants to speed up delivery to within a week of a trug being ordered.

Although the majority were sold in garden centres, the web site had helped increase the number of mail orders by 250 per cent.

The company was discussing the introduction of online sales with Sussex Enterprise, which helped create the site.

This would help boost overseas sales, which have been accounting for about 40 per cent of sales every year.

www.sussextrugs.com
Wednesday March 19 2003