About Us

About WelshClay

 Welcome to WelshClay Where we can celebrate the natural wonders of my Welsh Kaolin Clay and how I discovered it. Hello, my name is Phil Bowen, a Welshman through and through. I have been described as a visionary, a Welsh innovator with a deep respect for natural materials and heritage. At the age of 7 I fell in love with horses while helping out at a local horse riding school. At 10, we moved homes and my days at the farm were over, but I never lost my love for horses. 27-year-old and owning an off-license, I could afford to buy my first horse and rent land. Not happy renting, I bought 68 acres locally. On walking the land, I could see a quarry face. It was exactly like the stone my father had used to build a fireplace at home. I instantly thought, "Hello, I can sell this stone."  2 years later and a lot of money spent on appeals, I was granted a license and started my Pennant Quarry business. I purchased a Bay Welsh Cob colt foal in 1990 and called him Rusty. In 1995, unhappy with the showing products available, I started making my own. 'AlvaHorse

November of 2010 was a very wet month and I noticed pretty pebbles were in abundance in the over-burden. Thoughts came to mind about adding them to my Blue Pennant Stone sales. As a trial, I put the overburden in a cement mixer to guesstimate the stone-to-mud ratio. The results were very positive, but the process was far too slow to make it financially viable. While researching online, I came across a company in Coventry with a very large washing plant. After speaking to the owner, it was decided to take 20 tons as a sample to be washed, with a view to him then bringing the plant to my quarry and washing 3,000 tons. At that time, I was dating a very knowledgeable and successful beautician called Karen. I told Karen of my plans and offered her a day out in Coventry after the tests, if she fancied it. She happily took me up on my offer and off we set the following week. Andy, the wash plant owner, had warned me that a good result would depend on a low clay-to-stone ratio. Picture this, as the mud was loaded into the wash plant hopper, we were standing alongside Andy behind safety rails, wearing Hi Viz vests and hard hats. As the mud went up a conveyor, it was sprayed with pressurised water jets and the pretty stones were plain to see.
Rhysdyd Dazzler at the Royal Welsh 2002

Andy then took us to the rear of the wash plant to check what the clay content was. As the clay was dropping from the machine, Karen reached out and grabbed a handful of the clay, we looked at each other, I was thinking, what the hell, we are going for lunch as she told me, "This is exactly like the French Clay I use on my Clients, I instantly thought of Welsh Clay and whispered shhh to her. I could not wait to get back in the car and ask her all about the French Clay. That, my friend, was the start of WelshClay as a cosmetic.  WelshClay Jewellery Polish. I uncovered the extraordinary benefits of my Welsh Kaolin Clay as a polish by chance, while processing my Cosmetic Grade Kaolin Clay in my lock-up container. I also stored my beloved Classic car, a 1978 Yellow MGB Roadster, in the same container. Since the process involved crushing, I foolishly forgot to cover it, and it was soon covered in fine clay. Before going home, I decided to dust off, and to my amazement, I noticed the paintwork in parts looked much brighter, as if I'd polished it. Excitingly, I added a drop of water to the fine clay and started polishing the pitted chrome around the headlights. The results were truly amazing and that was the start of WelshClay as a Jewellery Polish.  Many thanks for reading my WelshClay discovery story. My Best Regards, Phil Bowen