Welcome to The Victorian Garden of the 1800's, a beautiful English country garden filled with organically cultivated herbs and flowers, grown today in our 21st century Victorian herb gardens

We handcraft exquisite organic skin and body care products incorporating extracts from traditional “heirloom” plants using ancient recipes popular amongst the aristocracy of England and Scotland. Because our recipes are so old, we believe our products to be unique. 'The Victorian Garden Collection' is our original range of 19th century products which are made from recipes popular during the Victorian era (1800's). These include the use of dozens of traditional herbal, floral and fruit oils plus extracts from seeds, trees, grasses, the earth's minerals, the ocean and in certain products, the by products of the beehive - beeswax, honey and propolis. Our second range is ‘The African Indigenous Collection' and here the products are made in the same way but combine many unusual indigenous African ingredients. Our third range is ‘The Royal Tudor Collection' which dates back to the 16th century; here we recreate exotic recipes created for the Tudor Queens of England during the 1500's. These unique Tudor products combine ancient botanicals, herbs and floral waters popular during the 1500's.” Our fourth range is “The Victorian Garden Organic Baby Collection” and this dates to the Victorian era and incorporates ingredients which were used by Victorian mothers for their babies and children.”

Our Mission Statement.
We are committed to producing clean, healthy, eco friendly products which are safe, stable and a delight to use. We choose to exclude all petrochemical ingredients in our ingredients; The decision not to include these ingredients is just that – our decision - many of these ingredients are used extensively in cosmetic manufacture today and are deemed to be safe, but such ingredients were not used during the Victorian Era and it is our prerogative to choose what goes into our own products. We strive to offer you not just a healthy, organic product but a memorable experience.
Our business ethic is to remain dedicated to continuous research into ingredients and we work very hard to identify suppliers of ingredients who offer the best quality, and who are themselves committed to maintaining high and responsible standards particularly ecologically. We use Fair Trade suppliers and purchase locally produced oils from within African countries wherever possible. We also source only sustainable Palm Oil from a supplier known for his affiliation with the Worldwide Fund for Nature. By adhering to these principles we are able to sustain the highest standard of ingredient listing.
Our ingredients comprise Certified Organic, non Certified Organic and Natural ingredients. We strive constantly to replace non Certified organic with Certified Organic, and Natural ingredients with Organic ingredients as and when they become available. Products are all biodegradable, eco friendly and packed in recyclable packaging.
No ingredients or finished products are tested on animals in any way whatsoever and we are privileged to be listed on the White List of Beauty Without Cruelty International. We adhere strictly to our stance on zero environmental impact when it comes to our choice of ingredients and packaging. Our commitment is to support Fair Trade suppliers wherever possible and we will always purchase ingredients sourced from small African farmers who are not able to afford to be Certified Organic but grow and harvest clean crops to organic protocol.
Our products are all made by an experienced Cosmetic Chemist and British Herbalist/Aromatherapist (ITEC qualified), registered with the *CTFA of South Africa (Cosmetic Toiletries and Fragrance Association, The Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa, the Aroma Forum of South Africa, the Aromatherapy Society of South Africa, and the International Guild of Professional Practitioners (UK). Beauty Without Cruelty International (White List approved member).
*Note: The Cosmetic, Toiletry & Fragrance Association of South Africa is the industry’s voice committed to maintaining the high quality and safety of cosmetic products. The CTFA guides members on the Self-regulatory Codes of Practice & Standards to ensure that the South African cosmetic industry flourishe

The Victorian Garden Organic Skin Care Company owes its existence and is dedicated to Lady Frances Jane Glover-Anderson - my own great grandmother - an aristocratic and lovely Victorian woman. In 1972 my maternal English grandmother died, and my mother inherited two enormous gold edged diaries passed down through the generations in her family and dating back to the 1800's. Leather bound and still in good condition, these meticulously kept diaries in flowing copperplate record a period of ten years in the lives of the Glover family and offer a fascinating description of daily life during the Victorian era when Queen Victoria was on the throne of England. My great grandmother Frances, daughter of Edmund Glover, married Stephen, a partner in the British East Indian Shipping Company.

My grandmother would relate to us how her mother Frances would remain in Scotland on the family estate as his work meant he had to spend long periods trading in India and away from home. It seems that with time on her hands and blessed with many servants to help her, Frances planted formal herb gardens for culinary and cosmetic use at her father's stately home in Scotland during the mid 1800's. Nature has many ancient secrets! Old archives tell us that during Victorian times (and indeed during previous centuries), herbs and flowers were always planted by moonlight as the moon has more pull on garden plants than we may imagine, which of course we now know to be now a proven fact. Picking herbs for fresh tea and plants to distill oils from was done under a waxing moon only. Fruit too, was always picked during the waxing moon for maximum juiciness and sweetness. Reading of the lives of my ancestors recorded in the diaries was of great fascination to me and it has been an amazing experience travelling back via the diaries to a time when life was so entirely different to our lives in the 21st century. As an English Aromatherapist and Herbalist running my own Organic Skincare Salon in South Africa, I began to try my hand at making Victorian products using the same old fashioned methods and pure unadulterated ingredients. The demand for these Victorian products exploded very quickly and now, more than a century on, The Victorian Garden continues to handcraft delectable Victorian moisturizers, body lotions and bath oils. We have also introduced two other product collections - African Indigenous products and 16 th century Tudor products, based on favourite recipes made for the Tudor Queens of England, which are now exported around the world.

The Victorian Garden, African Indigenous, Royal Tudor and Baby Collections are formulated, handcrafted and hand bottled in our own laboratory under the guidance of our experienced
Cosmetic Chemist and Herbalist/Aromatherapist registered with the Allied Health Professions Council of SA, the Aroma Forum of SA, the Aromatherapy Society of S. A., the International Guild of Professional Practitioners (UK) and the CTFA (Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrances Association of South Africa). Beauty Without Cruelty International (White List approved member).
More than a century on, the Victorian Garden began recreating traditional Victorian skincare recipes. Many delightful herbal creams, lotions and bath oils were used by aristocratic Victorian ladies, as well as by the Ladies in Waiting at the courts of Queen Victoria. During the Victorian era, the making of beauty products entailed firstly the daily gathering and preparation of fresh herbs and flowers and oils distilled from plants and fruits were combined with the by products of the beehive - Honey, Beeswax and Propolis – waxes being melted over a double boiler before the adding of other ingredients. After intensive research and experimentation into Victorian recipes using the old fashioned methods, we are proud to offer over 140 unusual and effective skin, body and bath products using Certified Organic, non Certified Organic and Natural ingredients. To compliment this extensive collection, we have introduced some exceptional 21 st century complementary health products.

The Victorian Garden

Phone: +27 (0) 11 466 8270
Fax: +27 (0) 11 466 8300
Website: www.thevictoriangarden.co.za
Email: orders.victorian@telkomsa.net