Welcome Autumn!

Autumn is here and although some of you might feel summertime sadness there is no reason to be low! Watching movies on the couch, drinking a cup of hot chocolate in good company and enjoying a walk in a park full of tree leaves are some of the most typical things that we like to do when the weather becomes colder and the days shorter.

The countryside is full of beautiful places to walk around and we'd like to share with you some of the best to make sure that you take advantage of your free time this autumn.

Hurst Green to Oxted (Surrey-Kent)

Length: 4.7 miles 

Duration: Three hours

Start: Hurst Green Station

Finish: Oxted Station

Getting there: Two trains per hour (one on Sunday) run from London Victoria to Hurst Green (journey time: 39 minutes – 49 minutes on Sunday). Trains from Oxted also run to Victoria. Drivers should park at Hurst Green and get the train back there from Oxted, one stop down the line.

Walk notes: This is the short version of a satisfying and reasonably gentle walk along the hills of north Kent and Surrey, much of it passing through woodland along the Greensand Way. This walk is especially attractive in autumn, offering a beautiful show of russets, browns and yellows when the leaves turn.

Saunderton via West Wycombe circular (Buckinghamshire)

Length: 10 miles

Duration: Five hours

Start and finish: Saunderton Station

Getting there: Trains run hourly between Marylebone and Saunderton (journey time: 42-51 minutes). For those driving, Saunderton Station car park is free.

Walk notes: This walk combines an easy stroll in the Chilterns through a mixture of woodland and sloping meadows.

Alton circular (Hampshire)

Length: 13.1 miles

Duration: Six hours 30 minutes

Start and finish: Alton Station

Getting there: Two trains per hour run between London Waterloo and Alton (one hourly on Sundays; journey time: about one hour 10 minutes). Alton Station has a pay car park, which costs £3.60 a day. There is also a free car park near Kings Pond or you can park anywhere in the centre of Alton and walk to the station to start.

Walk notes: The quiet corner of Hampshire through which this walk passes seems like the kind of countryside in which nothing much has ever happened. Yet in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century it inspired two famous writers – the naturalist Gilbert White and Jane Austen. 

Don't forget to take with you the Conical Flask! The best way to bring water with you during the walk!

Special products: Choker

We like special products, designs that are different and unique. We already showed you the Quick Release Belt. Hardy&Parsons is renown for this iconic piece that owes its origins to the firemen of the early 19th Century; as well as, the Drinks Cabinet or Tantalus that combines the skills of a cabinet maker and a master saddler. 

Now it is time for another special product: the Choker.

Handmade in England in bridle butt leather, this piece is special because it combines the classics dog collar and lead in one. One end of the strap has a ring and through that ring goes the rest of the lead. That creates a circle, where the dog places his head. The ring moves, so depending on the animal's pace, the lead will loosen or tighten. The other end of the lead has a handle.

This model is also available in webbing and leather combination. You can see all the detail photos here.

Why not try a new way to walk your dog?

Belts' names

We often get asked why do we call our belts with names such as Bredon, Cropthorne, Eckington, Kemerton etc. We did gave you some information about the name of the Quick Release belt some weeks ago, you can find it here. But, we would like to explain you some other meanings...

Well, when we started we thought long and hard about it, the obvious one was to give the belts a numerical code to identify the style, however this somehow had an industrial feeling to it, which of course was far from what we are i.e. craftsmen. So after some careful thinking we decided to call them with names of towns and/or villages in the Worcestershire where our “atelier” is located; which was our way of honouring the beauty of Worcestershire and the people that work and live there, and perhaps encouraging those of you with a curious streak to visit Worcestershire.

So bellow you can find some examples:

Bredon is a medium sized village (2700 residents) on the southern edge of Worcestershire. It lies on the banks of the River Avon and on the edge of the Cotswolds and traces its origins back to over 4000 years ago. For more information on Bredon click here. 

Cropthorne is a small village (600 residents) approximately 12 miles southeast of Worcester. Located on a small ridge overlooking the River Avon, its ancient orchards sweep down to the river and offer clear, unbroken views across the vale to the Malvern Hills in the distance. It is featured in the Domesday Book, and its church dates back to the 12th century. The village has many unique examples of timber-framed thatched cottages from the 16th and 17th centuries, and about half the village is designated as a Conservation area. For more information on Cropthorne click here.

Eckington is a small village (1200 residents) near to the southern border of Worcestershire. The village is surrounded by the River Avon and is renowned for its famous bridge, its village cross and its Norman-period church. For more information on Eckington visit click here.

Kemerton is a small village (400 residents) on the extreme south of Worcestershire. Notable historic features include Kemerton Camp, an Iron Age hill fort surmounting Bredon Hill, on the fort’s south rampart is a two-storey stone tower known as Parsons Folly (or the Tower), built in the mid-18th century by John Parsons V, MP (1732–1805), the squire of Kemerton, who reputedly wished to raise the summit of Bredon Hill to 1000 ft (305 m). Significant buildings include the Church of St Nicholas, Kemerton Court, and Bell’s Castle. For more information on Kemerton click here.

What do you think is the meaning of the rest of the belts' names?

Preview of the season: Wrist Bands

Bits Wrist Band

Clinchers Wrist Band

Plaited Wrist Band

We show you our wrist bands, handmade in England with the best leather, as all our products. The last preview of the season comes just before we publish the Hardy&Parsons' catalogue. You can see the online catalogue on our Pinterest profile too. Enjoy it!

Preview of the season: Drinks Cabinets

Conical Flask

Drinks Cabinet

Do you like them? They are two iconic pieces of Hardy&Parsons; the Conical Flask and the Drinks Cabinet. You can find more information about them here and more detailed photos on our Pinterest profile. 

Preview of the season: Accessories

We like to give you solutions to your daily life needs. That's why we have designed some accessories. They are the Pen Case and the cases for iPhone 4 and iPhone 5. 

Below you can see the main new photos of these products. To see more, click here. 

iPhone 4

iPhone 5 

Pen Case 

Preview of the season: Key Fobs

And we continue with the review of the season. Now, it is the time for our Key Fobs. Below you can find some of them but if you want to see all the detail photos, we encourage you to visit our Pinterest profile here. 

Diamond Red

 

Star Black

Stirrup Green

Don't forget to check out our Facebook Fan Page, where you can find updated photos and information about these products.

Preview of the season: Dog Collars and Leads

Following the seasonal previews, this time it is the turn for Dog Collars and Leads. Below you can see the main photos, but if you want to see all the detail photos as well, you can find them on our Pinterest profile, where our online catalogue is. Be the first one to see the catalogue online before it is published!

Bredon Dog Collar

Bredon Dog Lead

Plain Dog Collar

Plain Dog Lead

Preview of the season: Ladies' Belts

Last week we showed you some photos of our Gentlemen's Belts here. We published the main photos of each belt on Facebook and you can check all the detailed photos of each belt on our online catalogue on Pinterest. 

Now, is the time for Ladies' Belts. 

Bredon Elasticated Webbing. 005

Elmley

Hereford

Quick Release

If you like this selection, you can find more photos on Facebook and all of them on Pinterest. 

Preview of the season: Gentlemen's Belts

As some of you already know, we are designing a new catalog where we will show you all our products for this season. We will show you new photos focusing on the details of each piece. We will also give you a short description of each product with interesting information about how it is done, the materials, the sizes, and more. 

In the meantime, we would like to show you a little preview. Today is the turn for gentlemen's belts. Here you can see some photos. If you want to see all of them you can find them on Facebook. And if you want to be the first seeing all the photos of each products, keep visiting our Pinterest boards, because we will be uploading all the photos these days. 

We hope you like Hardy&Parsons' belts!

Besford

Cornbury

Malvern

Oxeton

Buckles

People might think that belts are just another kind of complement, useful only to keep your trousers in their place. But we believe that belts are an important accessory. For example, we can choose one belt and depending on its style, design an special outfit. Belts come in numerous different styles. The leather, the webbing, the colour... every aspect of  them is special. 

Buckles are a very important part of belts as well. They have different sizes and shapes and they are made in all kind of materials. 

Today we would like to give to the buckles the importance that they deserve, showing you some of the new models that we have just received. Our favorites are the following.

Do you like them? If you want to see more models, check out our Facebook and Pinterest profiles!

Clipping II: Provenance

Do you remember the first post where we talk about Hardy&Parsons' clipping? Today we continue and this time we would like to show you our products on another fashion blog: Provenance.

Hardy&Parsons appeared on Provenance blog some months ago.

The belts shown are the following:

Ashton

Broughton

Cowdray

Hereford

Aberdeen

By the way... what do you think about this photographic composition with some photos of each belt? We will explain you soon... 

New Products III: Pen Case

Today we’d like to present you another new product. It’s also a case but not for phones… Have you ever needed to write something and didn’t find a pen? If you need to carry pens with you, we designed the coolest and safest way of carrying them.
 

Handmade in England with the best leather, this case has space to carry three pens, each one having its own pocket. The case has a flap to close it and to carry the pens without losing them.

This case is available in black, brown and mid brown. A must accessory and a good idea if you need to make a present for somebody, don’t you think?