A third Marlborough connection to last month’s royal wedding has been revealed this week.
Following the much-publicised link between Marlborough College and Kate Middleton, then the revelation that the bridesmaids dresses had been designed and manufactured in the town, we can now reveal that a wedding gift to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge from a friend of the Middleton family was handmade by a Marlborough company.
While 470 years ago chopping blocks and royal brides were a bad mix, William and Kate are understood to be delighted with their hand carved Wiltshire oak chopping board.
The board, carved from FSC certified oak from Wootton Bassett, was inscribed with the date of the wedding and the initials W and C on one edge, and Made in Wiltshire by Sticks and Stones on the opposite side.
Sticks and Stones, which manufactures and sells kitchenware products, was established by Garp and Liis Flack in 1999. Pieces were made in Wiltshire and sold at London’s Portobello and Spitalfields markets.
The couple set up shop at Woodborough Garden Centre, near Pewsey, three years ago and opened a second outlet at Old Hughenden Yard in Marlborough last year.
The chopping board, which is slightly tapered to allow juices from meat to run off into a draining trough is not the first royal commission the firm – which traded for several years from Marlborough’s charter market – has received.
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, has a cheeseboard measuring almost two metres in length. Other famous clients include Jamie Oliver, Sophie Dahl and Anthony Worrall-Thompson.
Chopping boards similar to the one made for William and Kate – no two are the same – are priced at £135. For more information, log on to www.uksticksandstones.com