Warning: emotional post ahead. I had no idea that receiving these lovely lemon soaps would trigger so many memories for me, but one smell and I was back to my childhood at my grandma’s house where they were strictly for best and guests. I went to boarding school and it was such a truly miserable time; wrenched from a ridiculously free childhood in the Scottish countryside (at my primary school we’d walk through fields to swim in the river) to a tight regime that made no sense whatsoever – and not being able to live at home anymore. At eleven? Horrid.
But every now and again, we got what was called an exeat where you could spend the weekend at home. I could never go home because it was too far away, so more often than not, I’d end up at my grandma’s house. And even though it was only me, and I was a child, out came the ‘best’ soap – every time a new bar. Back then, the lemon soap was just lemon – now it’s been updated with neroli added and to be honest, I can’t tell the difference. The scent of it has made me happy and sad at the same time – happy because it was such a luxury – I’d never even seen lemon shaped soaps before – and because they were such a treat, and sad because they’re symbolic of such a wretched and lonely time.
On the whole though, I’m happy to have the memory brought back – there were lots of bonkers things about my grandma – her famous ‘chicken soup casserole’ (“you just pour a can of Campbell’s Chicken Soup over the chicken and let it bake in the oven for an hour) which was gruesome, the fact that she somehow always had cherries available – the big, fat expensive ones as well and that she always served melon at breakfast time. She had a parrot, unimaginatively named Polly, who we were all terrified of – as far as I remember Polly lived on cashews which were ridiculously expensive at the time, and she had an entire drawer of tea towels that we’d given her as presents that were ‘too good to use’. When she died, she had still never used one of them. The guest loo was always north Atlantic cold – no radiators – so you’d run in and go as quick as possible with the hot tap running in the basin so the water would be warm enough for a properly lemony hand-wash. The bathroom always smelled impossibly lemony – and that’s a good memory! Posh soaps for special visits.
Even though I associate Bronnley with heritage products – and they are traditional in many respects – their new scents and products are definitely pushing forward into being contemporary without leaving their roots behind. For me, Bronnley is always going to be about the lemons though.
Transparency Disclosure
All products are sent to me as samples from brands and agencies unless otherwise stated. Affiliate links may be used. Posts are not affiliate driven.
13 comments
Love this post. It’s lovely x
What a lovely post here Jane, great to see something so personal on a beauty blog. Enjoy your soap 🙂 xx
Lovely post but is it wrong that upon seeing a lemon product and mistaking for a real lemon, I thought “where are it’s eyelashes?!”
lol.. yes I should have put lashes on it but unfortunately the Pepperettes wrecked my last pair of lashes!
Ah yes, exeats. To be honest, I’m not sure what was worse, being at school or being at home.
Lovely post x
Oh my goodness I remember breaches soap too. Seeing the con your post was a step back in time. Great post Jane.
one of your best posts ever! 🙂
Ah what a lovely post Jane 🙂
isn’t it lovely that somehow, through really hard times, there is always the someone special person who helped us through. Not that the awareness of it is there at the time, but later reflection brings the awareness. And how lovely to have a smell to remind you of someone special. I really appreciated your post
Aw what a lovely story, my Nan always used to have Carbolic Soap for the special guests and Pear Soap for the rest of us x
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Ah Jane great post! Yes I always think, scents and music are the only things that literally can clench our heart and always stay constant – just a shred of the music or an echo of the smell and there we are! Those lemon soaps are beautiful, think I need something like that in my home so I can have such a memorable hallmark too!
Gail xx
Beautiful post, it’s funny how sometimes something so little can bring back memories for us. My nanna does the same thing. She refuses to wear or use some of the things that she buys or receives as gifts and when asked why she always says “for a rainy day.” I guess it has something to do with them having gone through the war and knowing what it’s like to not have much of anything, so they saviour the things that they do have…even if it means that they’ll die before those things ever see the light of day.
I love to see a post sometimes that has so much heart
I love this post. Bronnley holds wonderful memories for me too. I did the PR off and on for the wonderful (Miss) Ann Rossiter during the 1990s. Her grandfather founded the business and she ran it treating everyone who worked for her beautifully – there was a real family atmosphere. In the Brackley factory in some cases there were 3 generations of women working together and everyone was so loyal to the lovely Ann. It is one of my fondest working memories and thank you Jane for your very personal memories too.