Last updated: 23 July 2026
The short version
Browsing this website does not store anything on your device. No cookies, no tracking, nothing saved in your browser. You can read every article, look through the shop and search the directory without a single thing being kept.
That is why you have not been asked to accept cookies. We only store something when it is genuinely needed to do a job you have asked for, such as remembering what is in your basket.
What cookies are
A cookie is a small file that a website asks your browser to store. Websites use them to remember things from one page to the next, like keeping items in a basket or keeping you logged in. Other technologies do a similar job under different names (local storage and session storage), and where this page says “cookies” we mean those too.
UK law lets a website store cookies without asking permission only when they are strictly necessary for something you have asked it to do. Anything else, such as analytics, advertising or tracking you between websites, needs your consent first. We have chosen to use only the strictly necessary kind, which is why there is no consent banner on this site.
What we store, and when
While you are browsing
Nothing at all. Reading articles, browsing the shop, looking at the directory or watching the homepage: none of it stores anything on your device.
When you add something to your basket
These are set by our shop software so that your basket still exists when you move between pages. Without them, a shop cannot work.
| Name | What it does | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|
| woocommerce_cart_hash | Remembers what is in your basket | Until you close your browser |
| woocommerce_items_in_cart | Remembers how many items are in your basket | Until you close your browser |
| wp_woocommerce_session_… | Connects your browser to your basket on our server | 2 days |
When you go to the checkout
Taking a payment safely means checking that a transaction is genuine. Our payment provider Stripe, and the express payment buttons (Amazon Pay, plus Google Pay or Apple Pay depending on your device), set cookies to do that. These load only on the basket and checkout pages, never while you are browsing the rest of the site.
| Name | Set by | What it does | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| __stripe_mid | Stripe | Fraud prevention, recognises the device | 1 year |
| __stripe_sid | Stripe | Fraud prevention, identifies the checkout session | 30 minutes |
| __ssid | Stripe | Used while you are on the checkout page | Until you close your browser |
| m | Stripe (m.stripe.com) | Fraud prevention | 2 years |
| session-id, session-token, session-id-time, session-id-apay | Amazon Pay | Runs the Amazon Pay express checkout button | Up to 1 year |
| apay-session-set | Amazon Pay | Runs the Amazon Pay express checkout button | Until you close your browser |
| hmt_id, __cf_bm, __cflb | hCaptcha | Checks that the payment form is being used by a person, not a bot | 30 minutes to 1 year |
These companies set their own cookies and we do not control exactly how they behave. You can read what they do with them here: Stripe, Amazon Pay and hCaptcha.
When you play a video
Videos on this site are embedded using YouTube’s privacy enhanced mode, so YouTube stores nothing on your device while the page loads. If you press play, YouTube will store information under its own privacy policy. If you would rather it did not, simply do not start the video.
If you have an account
Signing in to an account sets standard WordPress cookies so the site knows who you are and can keep you signed in. These are only ever set for people who are signed in.
Things that are not cookies
A few parts of the site involve another company without storing anything on your device. They are not cookies, so they do not need your permission, but you should still know about them.
- Counting visitors. We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to see how many people read a page. It uses no cookies, does not follow you between websites and does not build a profile of you.
- Fonts. Two typefaces load from Google Fonts, which means Google receives your IP address when a page loads.
- The contact form. It is protected from spam by Cloudflare Turnstile, a privacy focused alternative to the “prove you are human” puzzles used elsewhere.
- The newsletter. The Join the Community button takes you to Kit, a separate company. Once you are on their page, their privacy policy applies rather than ours.
Why there is no cookie banner
Those banners exist because a site is storing things on your device that it does not strictly need. Since we do not do that, there is nothing to ask you to agree to. We would rather remove the tracking than ask you to click a box about it every time you visit.
How to control cookies
Every browser lets you see, delete and block cookies in its settings, and you can set it to warn you before any are stored. The Information Commissioner’s Office publishes plain guidance on this at ico.org.uk.
One thing worth knowing: if you block cookies from this site, the basket and the checkout will stop working, because those genuinely need them.
Changes to this page
If we ever add something that stores information on your device, we will update this page before it goes live. If that something needs your consent, we will ask you first rather than assume.
For everything else about how we handle your information, see our Privacy Policy. If you have a question about either, please get in touch.