TODAY’s trader of the week is Newton Aycliffe-based homemade candles and wax melts company Enhanced by Nature.

Enhanced by Nature, founded by friends Emma Connolly and Nikola Kilburn in 2019, has recently introduced a rainbow range to raise money for NHS Charities Together, which the pair describe is one of the company’s most memorable moments.

“The scent we have chosen for this range is ‘1000 wishes’ ,” Ms Connolly said. “These last couple of months have been a bit of a rollercoaster with the current pandemic, but it’s times like this where we want to do our bit for our NHS. We have family and friends who are at the front line dealing with Covid-19 daily.

“We see first hand how our family deal with this pandemic, the effects it has on them and we really wanted to give something back.”

The candle and fragrance company, which is open Monday to Saturday from 8am to 8pm and 10 am to 4pm on Sundays, started Enhanced by Nature after being active consumers of the home fragrance and wax melts and wanting to challenge the market.

They added: "We both were actively buying products for our home but we felt there was something missing. We had some creative ideas of what we wanted to introduce. We started with scented stones, we had tried and tested different products to make sure we had the right ingredients in place to help us make our vision a reality. We wanted something that added some sparkle but also made your home smell amazing for longer. When we released the range we didn’t expect to see the surge in demand that we did. Our customers loved them and as time has gone on, we have had more requests for different products.

"We now sell scented stones, room sprays, carpet fresh, wax melts and candles, and we plan to grow services across the UK."

The Northern Echo understands most businesses are currently not operating due to the coronavirus pandemic but we hope to use this weekly story to feature North-East traders and help ease uncertainty during this time.

If you have a business and want to be featured in the Trader of the Week segment, email tasmin.lockwood@newsquest.co.uk