SHEETS OF HEMP

Hold me closer,

Tiny Dancer,

lay me down in sheets of hemp.

Words from the 1970 tune "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John. Only back then nobody really knew about hemp, so of course I have amended it! The liberties I take.

Image right is of the new Jilly Cholmondeley hemp sheets line. Yet another hemp business in West London, W8 to be exact. On her site she offers free samples of her hemp sheet cloth. Recent reviews include the Independent, which manages to say something negative about hemp even when raving about the one or two hempen products it likes. This week for instance it talked of the 'hemp sandals cliche', funny, all these years I've been promoting hemp I have yet to see hemp sandals, so they can hardly be a cliche. The reference to the Cholmondely line insinuated that all other hemp products were rough and bristly. Obviously, they need to get out of the office and look around or read a book on the subject. Maybe this rag is owned by William Randolph Hearst, or their advertisers, including the cotton industry, have an agenda. Which may be why they are rather tacit about the fact that cotton, including oragnic cotton, uses up too much water - a fact Cholmondeley is not afraid to mention on her site.

Hopefully the Cholmondeley range will help set the record straight, and for those wanting to feel the quality of her sheets, there is an address on her site to send a SAE for a free sample:

Jilly Cholmondeley, 12 Melbourne House, 50 Kensington Place, London, W8 7PW.

Her line will soon be carried by Colin Firth's Eco in W4 (213 Chiswick High Road).