queen victoria....

...and the trug!
Queen Victoria bought several of these for her family when Thomas Smith displayed his trugs at the Great Exhibition of 1951.
Now that has to be THE best endorsement!

A trug is a wooden basket originally made 'from a handle and rim of coppiced sweet chestnut wood which is hand-cleft then shaved using a drawknife. The body of the trug is made of five or seven thin boards of cricket bat willow, also hand-shaved with a drawknife' .


These beauties collect the produce from L's potager, each hand crafted and numbered (extra) and very beautiful.