Shopping Online for Horse Accessories

The equine industry here in the UK is booming and it’s unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. It’s hardly surprising considering that there are reportedly in the region of up to 4.3 million horse riders living and working in Great Britain currently. Servicing the needs of all of these horse riding enthusiasts is a network of small businesses which supply everything from equine supplements to lunge cavessons. In amongst the small businesses out there competing in this highly competitive retail area is ‘Oakfield Saddelry’, operating offline and online from their website ‘Oakfield Direct’.

oakfield-homepage

Oakfield Direct Homepage

To diversify the customer base of Oakfied Saddelry’s physical shop-front the company has taken up measures to move online and have created a wonderful and well-stocked online store at ‘www.oakfield-direct.co.uk‘.

The Oakfield Direct website is comprehensive, covering the full range of essentials to properly look after and care for your horse. The selection of equestrian equipment available includes products for both children and adults, as the people behind Oakfield Direct realise that horse riding is a passion which flows through and appeals to all generations. In addition to the riding staples Oakfield Direct also stocks an excellent selection of country focussed products, products like footwear which can be used for a range of countryside activities and pursuits.

The website offers an excellent user experience, with an easy to navigate structure and intuitive layout. The ‘Quick Shop’ function allows users to effortlessly refine their search by a specific brand, so if you’re looking for Hunter wellies for example, you can select ‘Hunter’ in the ‘Quick Shop’ and you’ll be presented with the items from Hunter that are available in that category.

If horse riding is a hobby of yours or if you want to take inspiration from innovative website navigation designs then a visit to Oakfield Saddelry’s website is a must.

Creating An Intelligent Present

Three years ago, I decided to something completely different as a Christmas present for my boyfriend, and set on doing a scrapbook of memories of our years together.

I quickly regretted this decision, as it took me a hell of a lot longer to do than I thought it would – so much so, that I actually had to delay the present until the Christmas after that!

I had never done scrap-booking before, so this was completely new to me. I quickly learned of brands like K & Co, and Papermania who create scrapbooks and scrap-booking paper, but I did need other bits and pieces like string and ribbon to make it extra special. There was a shop called Pack Lane Wool in Basingstoke that I found some great craft products in.

I bought ribbon to create little borders around photographs and yarn to bring pages to life with other little features. Pack Lane Wool also have a website, which is brilliant as I could look around the products before driving the 10 miles from where I lived to Basingstoke. They have a page on their website about Intelligent Retail, which provide their till system they use for the website as well. This turned out to be pretty useful, as I could see that certain products were in stock before I headed down to the shop to buy them!

Believe it or not, creating the scrapbook was incredibly hard work, although perhaps that was down to my complete lack of experience. I spent a long time simply looking for the right papers and little tools I needed like a basic paper trimmer, and special scrapbook glue. I also had to be sneaky and take old tickets from my boyfriend’s photo albums to use in the book, as well hunt through my own stuff to find ideal things to include.

When I look back on the hours and hours I put into that, I really wonder why I did. My boyfriend never looks at it, and it’s a very girly thing anyway – I used a monochromatic colour theme, but somehow it still looks like a gift that a girl would be given. Oh well, it’s a lesson learned I suppose!